Figure 1.--We are not sure just what we are looking at here. Almost all the children are wearing army uniforms. We are not sure if the child in rge wide-brimmed hat is a boy or girl. We thiught it ay e an aristocratic family, but there are too many children of the same age for a family. But there are too few children for a school. The portrait is undated, but we believe was taken in the 1910s. There is an inscrioption on the back. We do not know what it means, other than the location. Annaberg is a German town. Click on the image to see it.

We see quite a few German boys wearing uniforms in the first half of the 20th century. Most of the militry uniforms are Germsn army uniforms. This includes essentially costumes younger boys wore. This was most common with military families, but it was not just popular with military families. We do not entirely understand the conventions here. They may have been worn for a photograph or for various family occassions. We do see these army uniforms m being worn to school and this is confirmed by our extensive archive of German school portraits. The exception of course was the cadet uniforms worn at German military schools. We see even more boyds wearing sailor suits, but this was not a uniform. With very few exceptions, sailor suits were simply an accepted and popular style for boys and girls. We also see children wearing youth group uniforms. These groups were popular in the early-20th century, but Scouting was not as dominant as it was in other countries. During the NAZI era (1933-45), Scouting was banned and participation in the Hitler Youth was mandatory.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Costume page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossary] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 12:01 AM 6/8/2018
Last updated: 12:01 AM 6/8/2018