Figure 1.--German boys wore many different types of hosiery in the 1950s, by the 1960s, ankle soicks were increasingly popular. This snapshot looks to have been taken about 1960s. Note the stripe styles.

Many Germany boys in the early 20th cebtury wore long stockings or three-quarter socks. Ankle socks were not common. Ankle socks began to be seen in the 1930s. After World War II they gradually became the dominant hosiery worn by German boys, replacing knee socks and long stockings. Hosiery was quite diverse in the 950s, but ankle socks had become quite common. Knee socks were still common in the 1950s, but by the 1960s they were becoming less common--especially with older boys. Here our assessment is complicated because more German noys were wearing long trousees and is more difficult to see what type of hosiery they are wearing using the photographic record. By the 1970s, Germans were wering ankle socks ith both long and short pants. Striped ankle socks appear to have been popular. We note quite a number of images of boys wearing ankle socks with kneesocks or in some cases long stockings. This seems especually common for boys in youth groups. We also see a few boys going to school with double socks. A good example is an unidentified school boy in 1934.