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This photo was taken during the winter, January 27, 1943 at the Freie Schule, Rämistrasse. in the city of Zurich. The children are 8th graders, about 12 years old. Some of the girls wear pinafores. One girl has a rather unique sweater with a slit for her belt. Many of the boys are warmly dressed in sweaters and woolen knickers (plus-fours) worn with woolen knee socks. At least one of the boys wears short trousers, a suit jacket, and long brown cotton stockings held up by supporters (probably attached to a Strumpfhemd or "stocking shirt", also referred to often as a Strapsleibchen--an undergarment with four elastic garters attached to the bottom). His shorts expose just a bit of his white underpants when he is sitting on the floor. The girls wear long stockings as well and usually have pigtails, a common style for Swiss and German girls of the period. Their teacher, standing in the rear, is Herr Stiefel. This was a "Free School" or public school of which there were several in Zurich. It is simply identified by the street on which it was located, Rämistrasse. These children are probably in their final year of primary school.
The children attended the Freie Schule, Rämistrasse. Except that it was a "free" school we know veryblittle about it. The "Freie Schule Rämistrasse" is a very famous school in Zürich. The site is nearby to the Grossmünster where Zwingli, the Zürich reformator, had his parish church. Up the Rämistrasse there are other famous educational institutions, the Zürich Kantonsschule, the Zürich University and the Federal Institute of Technology.
This was a "Free School" or public school of which there were several in Zurich. We are not sure if "free" meant only that there were no school fees. We note a lot of public schools in Switzerland that were not designated as free schools. A German reader explains, "'Freie Schule' is an old private school, not a state school, cantonal school or community school. I found a note to be a 'Freie evangelische Schule', i.e., a pastorial school.
This photo was taken during the winter, January 27, 1943. Thus it is understandable the children would be dressed warmly.
By the time this photograph was taken, Switzerland was one of the very few European countries left unscathed by World war II and it was a rare democracy. For a time it looked like the NAZIs would invade Switzerland , but by the time this portrait was taken, the War had irrevocably shifted against Germany. The 6th Army in German Stalingrad was about to surender. The Allies were moving against the last Axis position in North Africa. And the Americans and British were about to begin the round-the-clock bombing of Germany. The time for a NAZI invasion was rapidly receeding. The Swiss were a diverse people, but the majority were German. The Swiss Germans were the only group of ethnic Germans in Europe who did not welcome the NAZIs. That of course does not mean that there were not NAZI sympthizers in Switzerland. Language and ethnicity are powerful forces. Zurich was located in notheastern Switzerland near the German border. Many people in Zurich listen to German radio and thus were exposed to NAZI poropaganda. It would be fascinating to know what the tr=eacher here told the children about the War. It must have come in class discussions. And children at this age are beginning to form opinions about current events.
The school was located in the city of Zurich. It is simply identified by the street on which it was located--Rämistrasse. Presumably Zurich like many European countries did not have long straight streets as in America. Thus street names had the connotation of neighborhoods.
The children are 8th graders, about 12 years old. Their teacher, standing in the rear, is Herr Stiefel. These children are probably in their final year of primary school.
A reader writes,, "I always try to read what has been written in or on the pictures you are showing. In this case I am able to read everything on the blackboard that has not been obscured by the children in the front. It seems to be a poem. In German it reads: Die Waldesquelle im Winter. ( Die Waldesquelle im Winter is the title of the poem.) Dunkelblau ist der Himmel in der Winternacht. Ein Sternlein wacht, Der Schnee fällt. An the last word I am able to read is Tannenbaum without the rest of the sentence. In English: The spring of the forest in winter. (Quelle here means well or spring. It also means an academic source.) Darkblue is the sky in the winternight. A little star keeps watch. The snow is falling." We are unsure just how the teacher planned to use this poem. Perhaps it was to dicuss poetry and the construction of poems. Perhaps he wanted to discuss word imagery. He may have required the children to memorize it. (Memorization was much more important in schools before World War II than today.) Perhaps he had the children copy it down in their copybooks. The availability of paper, however, was affected bu the War.
Some of the girls wear pinafores. One girl has a rather unique sweater with a slit for her belt. Many of the boys are warmly dressed in sweaters and woolen knickers (plus-fours) worn with woolen knee socks. At least one of the boys wears short trousers, a suit jacket, and long brown cotton stockings held up by supporters (probably attached to a Strumpfhemd or "stocking shirt", also referred to often as a Strapsleibchen--an undergarment with four elastic garters attached to the bottom). His shorts expose just a bit of his white underpants when he is sitting on the floor. The girls wear long stockings as well and usually have braided pigtails, a common style for Swiss and German girls of the period. It seems even more popular in Switzerland than Germany.
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