Figure 1.--Poland is a largely Catholic country. The Catholic Church has played a major role in the country's history. Here we see Polish children taking their First Communion in 1933. Notice that most if the boys have cropped hir. |
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Poland has played a crucial role in the history of Europe. Poland was for centuries the most powerful kingdom in eastern Europe. It was Polish forces that saved Vienna from Ottoman armies in the 17th century. Yet in the 18th century, Poland disappeared from European maps, partitioned by three powerful empires: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Yet through two centuries of foreign domination, Poland remained alive in the hearts of her people. The idea of Poland was maintained by language, culture, and the Catholic church. We have limited information on Polish boys clothes, Hopefully some of our HBC the European visitors to this web site will provide some information so we can provide a more detailed assessment of Polish fashion trends. The information we have collected suggest as might be expected, similarities wuth Aystria, Germany, and Russia, neighnboring countries with huge ecoinomies. This is understandable because much of Poland until World War I was controlled by Russia and smaller areas by Germany and Austria. Even after independence, the powerful Germany economy and clothing industry influenced fashions throughout Eastern Europe. We note boys in rural areas wearing a range of regional folk costumes. We do not note any destinctive Polish garments, but tese folk styles have influenced detailing on Polish clothing/
Geography has played a major role in shapeing Poland. The country's location on the northern European plain has left it open to invasion fro both east and west. And that plain has left the country without easily defenseable frontiers which also left its borders clearly defined. Poland was in the early Medieval period a land without central control, racked by warring tribes. Prince Mieszko I was baptised in 966. Mieszko and Roman Catholic Christianity provided stability and cohesion for the first time. Poland had by the 17th century had become the largest state in Europe. It played a major role in stopping the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, helping to save Vienna. An elected kingship and the power of the nobility significantly impaired the development of a strong national state. Despite important reforms in the late 18th century, Poland was partioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia and the Polish monarchy ended. Napoleon was aided by Polish nationalists in his campaigns against Austria and Prussia, but his devestating defeat in Russia, ended any hope of a restored Polish monarchy as the peace was dictated by the very powers that had partioned Poland. Poland did not reappear until after World War I destroyed the three great European empires (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia). It was Poland that first stood up to Hitler and the NAZIs and payed a terrible price. Poland after World War II had to endure a Stalinist dictatorship. While absorbed into the Soviet Eastern European empire, Poland proved to be a very troublesome acquisition. And with the advent of Solidarity, it was in Poland that the Soviet empire began to unravel.
Poland has played a crucial role in the history of Europe. Poland was for centuries the most powerful kingdom in eastern Europe. It was Polish forces that saved Vienna from Ottoman armies in the 17th century. Yet in the 18th century, Poland disappeared from European maps, partitioned by three powerful empires: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Yet through two centuries of foreign domination, Poland remained alive in the hearts of her people. The idea of Poland was maintained by language, culture, and the Catholic church. Poland and Ireland, two conquered peoples, became the most Catholic countries in Europe. Poland was reborn after the horrors of World War I, but conqured again by the NAZIs on 1939. The NAZIs sought to destroy the idea of Poland with finality, attacking Polish culture and the church. A new Poland was reborn in 1945, but moved east by the Soviets and subjected to a Stalinist dictatorship. Modern democratic Poland was reborn in the 1980s as the Solidarity trade union movement succeded in freeing the country from Communist rule. These political trends have significantly affected fashion trends in Poland.
We have very little information at this time on the garments worn by Polish boys. Polish boys wore many of the same fashions worn by other European boys. We note Polish boys wearing broad-brimmed sailor caps. Sailor suits seem to have been very popular despite the fact that ther was no Polish navy. As in the rest of Europe, the sailor suit was a popular fashion for boys in Poland during the late 19th century and early 20th century. This was true despite the fact that Poland was not an independent country until 1919 and had no navy. Few details are avilable to HBC on destinctive Polish fashions or the popularity and styles of various garments. We have seen boys wearing cossock-inspired Russian blouses-- especially with folk costumes. As in other European countries, boys commonly wore short poants in Poland until the 1970s. Long stockings were worn until about the 1970s when tights became more popular. Polish boys like German boys wore long stockings well after they went out of style in many other European countries. Polish readers inform HBC that tights were also common, although we do not know when they first appeared. As in East Germany, they appear to have replaced long stockings. Polish boys in the 1980s commonly wore tights. Tights continued to be widely worn by boys in the 1990s although perhaps not quite as commonly in the 1980s.
Here we will archive information on the activities persued by Polish boys and the destinctive costuming associated with those activities. Some clothing is specifically associated with specific activities. This has become more common as Polabd became more affluent in the 20th century. There are schoool, work, and play clothes as well as dress up outfits. This will include information on Polish choirs, dancing, music, schools, sports, and other activities. We also have developed some information on Polish youth groups. Many of these outfits seem similar to clothing worn in other countrues, especially Germany and Russia. Germany has probably had more influential in the early 20th because of cultural affinities, especially Catholocism. This may have changed after World War II when Poland disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. But even here East Germany continued to be an important influence.
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We do not have much information about Polish boys' hair styles at this time. As far as we can tell, Polish boys had hair styles very similar to Russian and German boys. Most of Ploland in the 19th century was part of the Russian Empire, but smaller regins were part of Germany and Austria-Hungary. We note many boys in the late 19th and early 20th century with close-cropped hair. Boys from affluent families were more likely to have hair long enough to comb. A good example is two Polish brothers in 1918. These close cropped cut continued in Poland even after World War I and independence even though they became less common in neighboring Germany. Close cropped hair does seem to go out of fashion after World war II.
Family images are very useful because they put boys clothes into the context of what the parents and sisters were wearing at the time. These images arranged chronologically provide fascintating glimes as to how family clothing changed over time. These also provide interesting insights into family relationships.
Large numbers of Poles emigrated during the19th ad early 20th century. This is a little difficult to follow, because at the time they were emigrating from Russia and Audtria. Emigration from the German area of Poland was largely interal, seeking jobs in the industrial cities of Western Germany. America was the principal destination for Polish emigration. Large numbers of Polish Jews fled the Russian-controlled area of Poland.
We note boys in rural areas wearing a range of regional folk costumes. We do not note any destinctive Polish garments, but tese folk styles have influenced detailing on Polish clothing. Our infrmation here is limited. We note peasant shepard teenager from the Zakopane area of Poland in the Carpathian Mountains.
Polish minority groups have varied substantially over time with the rise and fall of the the fortunes of the Polish state. Poland emerges as a European state as the Polonia, a Slavic tribe becomes premenent (10th century). Poland for a time was a vassal state of the German emperor, but after unuin with Lithuania became a major power including many nationalities (Jews, Lithuanuians, Russians, Ukranians, White Russians, and others). The success of the Polish nobility in undermining the monarchy destroyed the Polish state which disappeared with the Polish partitions. At this time the Jews were the principal minority. Poland emerged as an independent state after World War I (1914-18) and in the war with the Bolshevicks gained large areas in the east populated with Lithuanians, White Russians, Ukranians, and others. The NAZIs largely destroyed Polish Jews in the World War II Holocaust. The Poland recreated and moved west by the Soviets after World War II was a much more purely Polish erhnic state.
The 1900s: Isaac Bashevis Singer
????: Walter Otto Fergusson Tepper
The 1940s: Along the tracks
Davies, Norman. God's Playground.
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