Figure 1.--Here we see three of the Berger children at the beach. Margarete, Hans, and Friedrich are wearing the beach fashion of the 1920s. Notice that at the time the swimsuits fir boys and girls were very similar. Boys like girls both wore tops. In this case the children wear one-piece suits, but two piece suits were appearing for boys. The suits here are solid colors. Stripes were popular in America, but less so in Germany. Drawing by Birte Koch.

Readers can also follow the getting dressed project by each child. Families at the time tended to be larger than modern families. Modern German families often only have only one child. Families with more than two children are a destinct minority. Such families were quite common in the 1920s, but the German birth rate was falling. The Berger children are Klara (almost 1 year old), Friedrich (4 years), Margarete (5 years), Charlotte (8 years), and Hans (12 years). Baby Klara and Friedrich are still at home. Margarete has begun Kindergarten. Charlotte is in Volksschule (primary school). Hans is in a Realgymnasium (secondary school) which he entered 2 years earlier when he became 10 years old. We have chosen a middle-class family living in a city under comfortable circumstances. But live is more expensive than it was before World War I. The Bergers are happy that a younger sister of the mother may help in the household as they now are noy able to pay for a maid as they were before the War. Her fiancé did not return from the war, and she likes very much to look for the younger children of the Berger family. She is also very skillful in needlework and in knitting. She prepared the swimsuits for the children for their vacation at the sea.

Klara (almost 1year-old)

Baby Klara and Friedrich are still at home with mother. German women did not commonly work, especially after they married.

Friedrich (4 years)

Friedrich was the youngest boy. Here we see Friederich in the 1920s. He is not yet old enough to school, even Kindergarten. I don't think nursery schools were common at the time. His hair is worn longer than it would have in the previous decades, in his case cut in bangs. He wears a white shirt with a schiller collar and button-on short pants. He wears short white socks, but probably wore long stockings when the weather got cooler. He has heavy high-top shoes.

Margarete (5 years)

Margarete has begun Kindergarten. Kindergartens by the 1920s had become very common throughout Germany.

Charlotte (10 years)

Charlotte is in the Volksschule in the fourth grade. She is good in school and will probably also change to a secondary school at the end of the term like his brother. However, as the parents like her to attend a school run by sisters of their church she will go to a private school for girls only. There she will get a scholarship as she brings very good examination results. Otherwise it would be too expensive to have the two elder children in a state school where the parents had to pay a tuition fee.

Hans (12 years)

Hans is in a Realgymnasium which starts with English as the first foreign language. He is more interested in practical sides of life than fields like history or old languages as taught in a Gymnasium.

Created: 4:53 AM 8/31/2005
Last updated: 10:59 PM 1/28/2006