Figure 1.-This photo shows the two Auwaerter boys, Albrecht and Konrad, at the ages of 8 and 11 years in 1947. They grew up to become important members of an industrial firm that made buses in Germany. Their parents were Rosine and Gottlub Auwaerter. The boys came from an affluent family. Although this photo was taken only 2 years after the war, the boys seem to be well off. They are dressed in well-pressed short single-breasted suits with short trousers.

This photo shows the two Auwaerter boys, Albrecht and Konrad, at the ages of 8 and 11 years in 1947. The boys had one older and two younger sisters. They grew up to become important members of an industrial firm that made buses in Germany. Their parents were Rosine and Gottlub Auwaerter. The boys came from an affluent family. Although this photo was taken only 2 years after the war, the boys seem to be well off. They are dressed in well-pressed short single-breasted suits with short trousers. The older boy looks as if he has outgrown his jacket. Both boys wear white shirts with sweaters. One of the sweaters has a zipper opening. Sweaters were common in Germany before theWar, but after the War, mothers took care to dress children warmly. Many Germans who were lucky enough to still have homes, did not have heating. Many wee living in damaged buildings. The same was true of schools. And eben if undamaged, coal was in very short supply. It must have been winter because in addition to the sweaters, the boys wear brown cotton long stockings with supporters to minimize bagginess and wrinkles. Their sisters also wear long stockings. Their mother has obviously chosen a Strapsleibchen (bodice and four garters) for their stockings. One boy wears hightop shoes while the other wears low cut oxfords. We are not sure why their shoes are different. We would have thought that the younger boy would be more likely to have the high-top shoes. We suspect that this is probably a reflection of the difficult conditions in Germany after the War. Consumer goods like shoes were in short supply and difficult to obtain, even if tghe family had some money. This is probably also why the older boy wears a jacket thathe has clearly outgrown. The boys already look like the sort of kids who will make successful businessmen in post-war Germany. Pictures of various models of buses which they had a hand in developing appear on the Internet.

A reader has provided some comments about the clothing the boys are wearing:
Tie/sweater: "I thought the boys were wearing ties when I looked at the portrait. You might be correct about the sweaters--although the deign at the neck seems a little strange to me. Have a look at another photo in which the boys are wearing exactly the same clothes. There may be a design on Albrecht's sweater that looks a bit like a tie (a wide Windsor knot I thought at first), but don't you think the sweater Konrad is wearing (if it is a sweater) is a bit weird? Have you ever seen such a design before? On the other hand, we have a later photo of Konrad in which he is definitely wearing a sweater under a short pants suit with long stockings." Yes, the sweater design looks somewhat like a tie, but if you lool closely, there is no white shirt showing. I have never seen a German boy wearing such a wide tie. And with the younger boy you can see the zip on his sweater, We note that it was very common for German boys to jut button their collar and not wear ties. .
Shoes: "I think both kinds of shoes were common among German school boys in 1947. High tops were of course the older style, but one sees both. I doubt that there is much significance in the shoe differences." Absolutely, both high-tops and low-cuts were worn at the time. We just thought it unusual that the older boy was weating high-tops.

Our reader writes, "These photos would have been appreciated by my mother who wanted her sons to dress in this way--although she would have insisted on a regular shirt and tie for a dress-up occasion rather than sweaters. We did wear sweaters to school I think."

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Created: 4:17 AM 8/22/2011
Last edited: 4:17 AM 8/22/2011