Figure 1.--This German school photograph was taken in 1972. We think it was taken in West Germany. The children look to be secondary students, probably about 14 years old. By the 1970s it was not common for secondary-level students to wear lederhosen, especially with halters and kneesocks. The portrait looks to have been taken in the Summer. Perhaps warm summer weather was a factor here. Note that none of the boys are are wearing "T"-shirts that show at the "V" of the collar. Click on the image to see the whole class.

Our German readers havev not yet commented on this topic. We note from our German image archieve, however, that German boys did not commonly wear "T"-shirts with collared shirts. Here it is easier to tell than in Britain because so few German boys wore ties to school, at least after World war II. Some Germsan boys did button their collars, but most did not and it was clearly not common to wear a "T"-shirt so it showed with an unbuttoned collar.

Created: May 17, 2004
Last updated: May 17, 2004