Figure 1.-- This is a portrait of Teme (Thobias-Meir) Hordedniceasnu and his wife Julia with their five sons and Clara, a neice. The photo was taken in Ploiesti, Romania during 1930. Ploesti is notable as the location of a major oil fueld, the most important in Western Europe. It would thus, as a result, play an important role in World War II. They seem to be a solid middle-class family. Notice tht from the way theu are dressed, they could not be detinguished from a German family at the time.

Here we will follow family fashions over time. HBC has decided to also gather information on entire families. One of the limitations of HBC is that too often we just view boys' clothing in contex with what the rest of the family was wearng. The family section is will help to compare boys' clothing with that worn by mothers, fathers, and sisters. These images will help show show differences in both age and gender appropriate clothing. Much of the photographic evidence here is very stiff formal portraits. This provides important evidence as to the formal clothes worn by Romanian families. The photographic technolgy of the 19th century limit the ability to take candid portrits of family life. This of course changes with the introduction od amateur photograophy and the snapshot at the turn of the 20th century. Our Romanian archive is still very limited so we do not yet have many Romanian family images. Periodical publications provide some images of family life, although almost always comfortable middle class families. we do not have enough Romanian images to make any assessment of Romanian family life or the clothing worn.

The 19th Century

The borders of Romania changed significantly duruing the 19th and 20th century. Romania just emerged from Ottoman ciontrol in the early-19th century. Romania was just morth of effective Ottoman control. but the Ottoman scontrolled are influencexd what is now Romania for much of the century. Ottoman influenced did not totally end until the Russo-Rurlish War. We jave not pjotograohs from the early 19th century. Anotyher issue was Translvania. This was part of the austrio-Hungarian Empire. The population cionsusted of a largekly Romanioan peasntry and a h=Hungarian airuistocracy. Tanrasyvanian was a contested area . While we have some portraits from the late-19th century, but they are mostly Hungarians whio donated urban life.

Hungarian family in Transylvania (1800s)

Here we have an Austro-Hungarian family in Kolozsvár. This was a city in Transylvania, among the most easterly of the Austro-Hungarian provinces. It was a Hungarian province of the Dual Monarchy. There was a substantial Hungarian and Romanian population and would become a major issue when the two countries became independent after World War I. First Hitler and then Stalin would settled the issue as a result of World War II. Kolozsvár is now located in Romania. The family is unidentified and the portrait is undated. It was probably taken in the 1890s. We see a prosperous-looking mother and father with two children, a boy and girl about 10-13 years old. The boy wears a lighty-colored standard knickers suit with a small bow and dark long stockings. In Europe boys wore both knee pnrs and knicjkers. In America it was mostly knee pants until the 1910s. The girl wears a fancy white dress with a long skirt, also with long stockings. The boy's hair has been basically shaved while his sister has incredible long hair. In Germany and the Austro-Hunmgary it was common to crop the hair of school-age boys. The styles are essentially German, worn by urban populations throughout the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The rural poulation, primarily a Romanian peasantry, dressed differently in what we would now call folk styles. The portrait here indicates a prosperous urban family. We suspct that they were Hungarian because the fancy art noveau back of the card has printing in Hungarian. The studio was Dunky which also had a studio in Miskolcz to the west in northern Hungary. We do not know much about Kolozsvár. During Workd War II the Germans set up a ghetto in the city. In Poland it took months to establish ghettos. In Hungary in was done in a week after the German seized contol of the country late in the War (1944). Conditions were horrible. The ghetto had no facilities and the Jews were tranported to Auchwitz where they were murdered.

The 20th Century

There were major birderc changesin the first half of the 20th century. This portatits taken in what are now Riomanian cities were not of Romanians. Transplvania woukd become oart of Rimania in the World War I peace srttkents. hitker gave it back to Hungary, but Stalin establish the modern birders.

Hordedniceasnu Family (1930)

This is a portrait of Teme (Thobias-Meir) Hordedniceasnu and his wife Julia with their five sons and Clara, a neice. The photo was taken in Ploiesti, Romania during 1930. Ploesti is notable as the location of a major oil fueld, the most important in Western Europe. It would thus, as a result, play an important role in World War II and become a major target of the U.S. Air Forces. They seem to be a solid middle-class family. Notice that from the way they are dressed, they could not be detinguished from a German family at the time, except for father who wears a little fashier suit than we see most German middle-class fathers wearing. Clara, the neice, wears a short pleated skirt with beige long stockings and rather unusually dark socks over them. The two boys, Florian and Jacques (seated in front) wear short trousers outfits with long stockings and supporters. The youngest boy, Florian, is about 4 years old, while Jacques seems to be about 7 years old. The older boys are at the back. Filip wears some kind of collar-buttoning jacket. nHis brothers David and Ionel are dressed as adults with souble-breasted suits.

The Bernstein Family (about 1930)

Here is an interesting studio portrait of a Jewish Romanian family recently immigrated to Brooklyn. The man's name was Philp Bernstein. He is shown with his wife and two children--a boy of about 9 years old and a daughter of about 6 years old. The photo seems to have been taken in the summer since the gentlemen is wearing a light colored, apparently pastel necktie, and the children are in very light-weight summery clothes as well. The boy wears a white or very light-colored short trousers suit with a soft collar and tie but with dark brown long stockings obviously worn with supporters (as would have been the style in Europe at the time and would be a little more unusual in America during the summer). The girl is also in a more or less matching summer frock but also with dark brown long stockings. I think the family has yet to adjust to American styles although long stockings were also worn (less commonly) in the United States. The photo is undated, but the clothing styles suggest to me either the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Unidentified Family (late-1930s)

This prosperous-looking Romanian family was photographed in the late-1930s. The father looks to be a giovernment oifficial or succesful businessmen. The two young boys are members of the Străjeria. This was the mass nationalisy organization youth group created by King Karol. Mother has them smartly turned out in their uniformns. Membership was compulsory. While membership was required, the fact that the boys are wearing them for a family portrait suggests that thefamily was supoirtive, perhaps a Government employee or at least a supporter of the monarchy. His dark shirt seems somewhat unusual.

Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Smocks] [Long pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer] [School sandals] [School smocks] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]

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Created: 6:07 PM 12/22/2011
Last updated: 7:14 AM 3/24/2012