Individual Swiss State Schools: Ottenbach Primary School

Figure 1.-- This school photo, taken at Ottenbach, Switzerland, in Zurich canton, is dated October 24, 1949. The school has the same name as the village, apparently because there is only a single public school there. Since the season is still autumn, most of the boys wear knee socks with their short trousers, but since winter is approaching one boy wears plus-fours and another wears beige long stockings with his shorts. From this boy's sitting posture, you can see how long the stockings of the 1950s were knitted.

This school photo, taken at Ottenbach, Switzerland, in Zurich canton, is dated October 24, 1949. The school has the same name as the village, apparently because there is only a single public school there. The girls wear q variety of pinafores. We do not know if this was required, but it is unusual for all the girls to be dressed alike like this unless the school requires it. Since the season is still autumn, most of the boys wear knee socks with their short trousers, but since winter is approaching one boy wears plus-fours and another wears beige long stockings with his shorts. From this boy's sitting posture, you can see how long the stockings of the 1950s were knitted, almost completely covering the legs and held in place with garters attached to a Strapsleibchen or stocking shirt. These children seem to be about eleven years old--sixth graders, probably. Most of the boys wear pullover sweaters but a few have on just shirts. Notice the boy on the right in the front row with his sleeves rolled up. The variety of hosiery in this photo is interesting. One boy wears white knee socks while most of the others wear dark grey, blue, or brown socks. Some knee socks have stripes around the tops and turn over with cuffs(like those commonly worn in England) while others just seem to have knit-in elastic that keep them up. The teacher standing in the rear with horn-rimmed glasses is Herr M. Jost. One boy, standing in the second row at the far right, is wearing a white apron, presumably because of lab work that he was doing just before the children were gathered for the photo. One boy with bare knees has scraped his knee playing and has an adhesive plaster over it. This school obviously took good care of their children's health.

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Created: 2:08 PM 3/21/2009
Last updated: 2:08 PM 3/21/2009