Figure 1.--Here the boys are getting used to their new school clothes. Two boys helping each other to adjust the length of their elastic clip-on suspenders so that their short trousers will hang properly.

A German reader writes, "'Die Harte Schule' was made in 2006 and was similar but better as the the boys wear grey shorts and knee socks throughout and look very smart even though alot of them are at least 6 foot tall. The best way to view it is with Video.Google.com. and see the episodes in order. The uniforms look more English than German except for the Argyl knee socks. The teenage boys (about 16-17 years old) have to exchange their modern clothes for a school uniform, which consists of grey woolen short trousers held up by clip-on suspenders. They wear white collared shirts with a black and white striped school tie. On top of this they wear black blazers with a school emblem on the pocket. They wear black and white argyle knee socks and black leather Oxford shoes. The girls wear a matching uniform with skirts and the same knee socks (or white tights). We see the students sitting on an outdoor step wearing the short trousers, argyle knee socks, and blazers.

The Uniform

The teenage boys (about 16-17 years old) have to exchange their modern clothes for a school uniform, which consists of grey woolen short trousers held up by clip-on suspenders. They wear white collared shirts with a black and white striped school tie. On top of this they wear black blazers with a school emblem on the pocket. They wear black and white argyle knee socks and black leather Oxford shoes. The girls wear a matching uniform with skirts and the same knee socks (or white tights).

Blazer

The students wear black blazers with a school crest on the pocket. This looks very British to us.

Shirt

The boys wear white collared shirts.

Tie

Images from the program show a group of boys learning how to tie the school ties. They are very British looking black and white striped ties.

Short Pants

The boys wear grey woolen short trousers held up by clip-on suspenders. The sxhorts are cut very long, more like the 1930s than the 50s. A scene from the show has two boys helping each other to adjust the length of their elastic clip-on suspenders so that their short trousers will hang properly (figure 1).

Knee socks

A reader writes, "The socks are Argyle knee socks, which is of very doubtful authenticity for German boarding schools of the 1950s. The short trousers with clip-on suspenders are historically correct, but the Argyle knee socks are not. Most German schoolboys of the 1950s wore plain colored knee socks." HBC is not sure about this, we have noted German boys in the 1950s wearing patterened knee socks. Younger boys might wear long stockings with a Strumpfhaltergurtel (during the chilly winter season). Our reader adds, "I've seen German boys NOT at boarding schools wearing patterned knee socks, of course, but not Argyles of the kind shown in this TV series, so, actually, I don't think we disagree all that much." A British reader who attended a German language Swiss boarding schools tells us thsat Argyle knee socks were worn by the German boys. He provides us a snapshot of one of his friends wearing Lederhosen and Argyle knee socks along with an overcoat for soe reason. I am not sure how common Argyle knee socks were at the school. We certainly do notice German boys commonly wearing patterned knee socks in the 1950s. We note a wide variety of patterns. Our general impression is that Argyles were not all that common in the photographic record.

Shoes

The students wear black leather Oxford shoes.

The Girls

The girls wear a matching uniform with skirts and the same knee socks (or white tights).

Assessment

HBC is somewhat doubtful about the accuracy of the uniform depictions. Is it true that German boys un the 1950s commonly wore short pants, but most boys by about age 15 were wearing long pants. German boarding schools as far as I know did not have the often strict uniform codes that English boarding schools had. There may have been some, but I am not aware of German schools that made older teenafers like the ones here wear short pants and knee socks. German boarding schools may have required the boys to wear suits, but the style of the suits and the type of trousers probably would have been left to the boy and his parents. A reader writes, "I don't think most German boarding schools had uniforms at all. The makers of the series seem to have based the uniform more on English boarding shcool styles. The blazers, striped school ties, and grey shorts could be English. But the clip-on suspenders are very un-English (for the 1950s at least) and so are the Argyles. At least this is my observation. " Yes we have never seen British boys wearing Argyle knee sovks--except with kilts.

Created: 10:33 PM 1/30/2008
Last updated: 1:12 AM 12/23/2010