German Movie Depictions of Boys Clothes: Unknown Easdt German Film, 194?


Figure 1.--This boy wears a casual plaid shirt with short pants and kneesocks. It looks like he might be wearing sandals, but it is not clear enough to really tell.

The East Germans, especially in the 1940s and early 1950s made numerous prpaganda that could have easily been made by the NAZIs. This film encouraged German children to report strangers in case they were spies. It showed these children saving the day by reporting a couple of strangers that turned out to be British spies.

Filmography

HBC has no details on the filmography of the film at this time.

Story

This film encouraged East German children to report strangers in case they were spies. This was apparently a carry over from the NAZI era. It was not just children that were incouraged to report on strangers and it was not just strangers either. Adults were encouraged to report on their neighbors. The most obvious were reports of disloyal behavior. Making negative comments or telling jokes about the Communists. Or perhaps just exhibiting a lack of enthusiasm for Communists. It could be quite dangerous in the 1940s and early 50s until aftern Stalin's death and the fall out from the East German riots. Conditions improved afterward so that the STAZI usually only acted against East Germans who attempted to questioin the system. The STAZI had an amazingly effective intelligence system. There were even husbands who reported on wives and visa versa. This film showed local children saving the day by reporting a couple of strangers that turned out to be British parachutists.


Figure 2.--The children are seen here in the woods. Presumably this is where they spot the British.

Chronology

The housing in figure 1 looks rather modern. HBC believes that the hoses look like late 1940s or early 1950s housing.

Clothes

The boys in the film wear short pants and kneesocks. I'm not sure what color, but it seems to be grey shorts and kneesocks. One boy wears a plaid shirt. Another boy wears a white shirt and kerchief. This looks to me more like the Communist (East German) Young Pioneer uniform. I'm also not sure why one boy wears a uniform and the other doesn't. I though that boys would wear their uniform to dress up in, but here only boy appears to wear his for play. It is hard to tell, but the boy in the plaid shirt also wears a kerchief.


Figure 3.--The note the boy on the left with the white shirt and kerchief. It looks more like a Young Pioneer uniform than a Hitler Youth uniform.








Christopher Wagner






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Created: August 23, 2000
Last updated: August 23, 2000