German Schoolwear at Individual Schools: Alphabetical List
Figure 1.-Here we see the primary school at Moschendorf, a section of the town of Hof in Bavaria . Hof is located in northern Bavaria near Saxony border, on the Saale River. It must have been a sbnstantial school with several different classes. We have two portraits taken in 1924. The girls mostly wear pinafores over their dresses. The boys wear suits, including a few sailor suits. Almost all the girls are barefoot. We can not see the boys, but they are presumably barefoot also. These portraits. are a good reflection of the difficult economic conditions in post-War Germany. Most pre-War school portraits show German children wearing shoes, especially at city schools.
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HBC has begun to collect information on German schools during different time periods which will include Imperial Germany, the Weimar Pepublic, NAZI Germany, East and West Germany during the Cold War, and modern unified Germany. We only have a few schools at this time, but hope to add tp our list. We hope that some of the large number of German visitors to HBC will provide us some insights into the uniforms and clothes that they wore to school so that we can add to our list. Unfortunately in only a few cases do we know the name of the school.
A
Here we see the primary school of Altenau, a village in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony. The school portrait we have is from 1927. It seems to be a typical small village chool. We can't tell much about the schoolfrom the details in the background. The age range of te children suggests that it was quite a small school. Most of the girls wear pinafores. e know pre-school boys also wore pinafors at the time. It was much lss common for boys to wear pinafores to school. We have no indication about the season, but some children are wearing coats or heavy jackets. Almost all children are wearing boots, however in the front row a girl wears strap shoes; a girl and a boy are barefoot. The boy wears also a garment that covers only the ankles.
B
A HBC reader has provided us what looks like a portrait from the Bismarck School. We know it is a German school, but we do not know where in Germany it was located. It is clearly a primary school. We also know that theportrait was taken in 1913 just before the outbreak of World War I. The image shows just how popular the sailor suit was in Germany. Note that there was no one standard style. Mothers had a wide variety of middy blouses to chhose from. Perhaps the fact that mny mothers sewed their cildren's clothes contributed to the diversity.
The Blankenburg Gymnasium was an academically selective boys secondary school. Boys finished primary school at age 10-11 years. At this time the academically clever boys entered gymasiums, rather like a British grammar school.
C
D
HBC has found some information on the Deutsche Schule Bukarest from the late 1950s throught the 60s. The school was founded in 1751 and served both the German community and Romanians that wanted an academicaly rigorous education for their children. Classes were in German, but German until the 20th century was a nuvh more important language than it is today. We get to follow one class as they go through the school. So we not only to see the different styles for the various age groups, but also how school fashion was changing. The children wear light-colored shirts and Pioneer kerchiefs. Most of the boys began school wearing suspender short pants and finish school weaing long pants.
G
The Goldschmidt Jewish private school operated on the grounds of an estate at Berlin-Grunewald. We have little information on the school. We do not known when it was founded. We know it operated during the 1930s. Presumably the NAZIs closed it in the late-1930s or early 40s. Many Jewish children attended state schools. Germany had one of the finest state educational system in the world. Jewish children did well in the state system. After World War I when anti-Semtism grew, some schools were not safe for Jewish children to attend, even in the 1920s before the NAZIs seized power. Thus some parents preferred to send their children to private schools. One specifically Jewish private school was the Goldschmidt School. The school operated with a British curiculum which proved helpful after the NAZIs seized power because the children there could more easily adjust to foreign schools if they managed to emigrate.
H
Here we see a group of younger boys at the Hardenberg Gymnasium. I'm not sure where Hardenbeg is located in Gwemany. We know nothing about the school other than a gynasium was an academically selective secondary school. The image is fated 1964, although we might have guessed was taken earlier. The class was all boys. We are not sure just when Germany shifted to coeducation. The boys wear casual shirts and both long and short pants. Several boys wear halter suspenders. I don't know if they are wearing lederhosen several boys wear sandals.
This is class of boys (aged about 10 to 12) from the Heinrich Heine School in Salzwedel, Germany, a town in Saxony-Anhalt at the junction of the Dumme and Jeetze rivers. The photograph was taken in October 1948 just after World War II. The class contained a number of very poor boys--their poverty made worse, of course, by the devastated condition of Germany in the postwar years. The commentator, who doesn't give his name, appears in the picture. He is the boy wearing the striped pullover in the second row just behind the boy wearing very short pants and long stockings with supporters ("Stumpfhalter" as the commentator calls them). See the enlarged detail of the second attached photo. His striped sweater was a gift from his Aunt Erna, who
had emigrated to the United States. The commentator, writing in 2004, mentions that the teacher of the school, Karl-Heinz Frank (he stands on the right), is still alive and was recently commended for his 50-year career as a teacher.
We note images from the Hermsdorf School in the 1930s. I don't think that this was the name of the school, but rather the town where the school was located. I'm not even sure that the school had a formal name other than the name of the town. It looks to be a primary school with children up to about 14 years of age. The only information we have about the school at this time is the available school photographs.
Here we see the primary school at Moschendorf, a section of the town of Hof in Bavaria . Hof is located in northern Bavaria near Saxony border, on the Saale River. The school apparently did not have a name, but rather was jusjy known as the Hof Moschendorf School. It must have been a subtantial school with several different classes. We have two portraits taken in 1924. The girls mostly wear pinafores over their dresses. The boys wear suits, including a few sailor suits. Almost all the girls are barefoot. We can not see the boys, but they are presumably barefoot also. These portraits. are a good reflection of the difficult economic conditions in post-World War I Germany. Most pre-War school portraits show German children wearing shoes, especially in city schools.
Figure 2.-Here are members of the cricket team at the Jacobson School. I don't think cricket teams were very common at German schools, but we are less sure about boarding schools.
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J
Israel Jacobson founded a school which became known as the Jacobson School (1801). Jacobson was the father of reform Judaism and his philosophy was reflected in the school. The new school had 40 Jewish and 20 Christian boys who were to be educated together, a novel concept in the early 19th century. Especially novel was Christian children in a majority Jewish school. The boys were given free room and board. The idea of living and working in close association was a central concept of Rabbi Jacobson. Rabbi Jacobson's school established very high standards and acquired a reputation for quality education. Several hyndred boys from the surrounding area were schooled there durng the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The school was located at Seesen am Harz, near the Harz mountains in Lower Saxony.
The school became known as the Seesener Jacobson Gymnasium. We note a portrait if the school cricket team in 1905. I don't think cricket teams werecall that cimmon in Germany. The boys' names are listed on the back.
K
Here we see the Kornau Grundschule (Primary School) in 1949. Kornau is a separate quarter of Oberstdorf, a Bavarian village. Oberstdorf is in Bavarian mountains, near the Austrian border. The boys wear typical clothing with lederhosen. Most are barefoot.
Kuelsheim is a village near Würzburg. We do not know much about the school, but it seems to have had a substantial school. As I understand it, these schools were normally not named, but simply referred to as the school of the village in which they were located. We do have a class portrait taken The picture was taken in school year 1948-49. The children wear a variety of clothing styles. The difficult conditions in Germany after World War II are still aparent because many children are barefoot. Teo of the boys wear folk-style jackets.
P
The Peterwitzer School was a school in Silesia. A reader has brovided some images from the 1920s-40s. At the time Silesia was part of Germany. After World War II it was transferred to Poland and the Germans expelled. Some of the ohotographs seem to have been taken during school trips. Unfortunately we have no further details on the school.
S
Here is an interesting photo dated 1915 taken of the graduating class of St.
Stephan's Gymnasium (secondary school) in Augsburg, Germany. The boys would be
about 17 or 18 years old. They are obviously dressed formally for the class photograph in dark suits with white shirts (mostly with detachable starched collars), neckties, and black lace-up high-top shoes. Some of the boys already are wearing long trousers, but the majority seem to wear knee-pants suits with long black stockings. Notice the ornamental buttons at the knee of the boy who is reclining. The boys also wear caps, mostly flat caps.
Unknowm Schools
Here are schools that we do not know the names.
A HBC reader has mentioned a lovely little short story by Alphonse Daudet, entitled "La Derniere Classe" ("The Last Class"). It was published as part of Daudet's
Lettres de Mon Moulin ("Letters From My Mill"). The story is set in Alsace. It describes a French teacher telling his class that he was being replaced and this will
be the last day that their class will be taught in the French language. An indifferent schoolboy comes to class on the last day that instruction will be given in French. It
is 1870-71 and the Franco-Prussian War has ended with a overwealming German victory. German must now be used in the Alsatian schools. The schoolboy enters
class a bit late (his custom!) and listens as the schoolmaster relates the sad news of the German victory to the class. The schoolmaster's praise of the French language
and literature awaken a belated patriotism and love of French in this errant but goodhearted pupil.
We do not know the name of this school. Here we see boys wearing an unusual combination of school clothes. Most boys wear various types of sailor suits. There are, however, also boys in "civilan" suits as well as one boy in a cadet uniform. We are not sure what kind of school this is, but the boys look to be in the first or seconday year of a secondary school.
This class of younger children looks to have been photographed about 1915. They wear mostly smocks and sailor suits, often with large bows.
This class of primary-age children were photographed in 1913. They wear mostly sailor suits and plain jackets, mostly without bows. Many of the girls wear pinafores.
We note a photograph of a group of German boys. Infortunately we have no provinance about the image. It is undated and there is no location indicated. We are guessing that it was just before, but more likely during the War. We are not positive that it is a school group, but that seems the most likely explanation. It looks like it could be a military school, but the boys are very young. The uniforms are quite elaborate. The the cost of such uniforms again suggest a school.
This looks to HBC to be a German class photographed in the late 1910s. The early 1920s is a possibility, but the late 1910s looks more likely. The boys wear a wide range of outfits from suits to sweaters and scarves. All of the boys, however, wear knepants and dark long stockings.
This class in about 1925 shows boys dressed in both sailor suits and regular suits in about equal proportins. Two of the boys wear sailor suits, but the boys in regular suits seem to be wearing mostly short pants, but with calf-length instead of knee socks. There may be one girl and one boys wears a velvet suit. The boys seem to vary in age from about 7 to 9 years of age.
This class in
about 1925 shows boys dressed in both sailor suits and regular suits, although
the regular suits are slightly more common. All of the boys appear to
be wearing short pants. There is one child with long hair who is almost
certainly a boy. Several boys wear smocks of many varied styles. The
boys seem to vary in age from about 9 to 11 years of age.
This class of older boys, about 11-13 years
of age, wear suits and sweaters with short pants and kneesocks. These
older boys do not wear sailor suits or smocks.
Boys at this boarding school wear sweaters, short pants, and kneesocks. There shorts are cut shorter than in the 1920s. For some reason they wear their belts over their sweaters.
We have a portrait of an uknowm German primay school taken in 1936. It is a large class and the children look quite young, probably their first or second year in school. We know it was taken in 1936 because the year is written on the back of the photo. The children wear a wide variety of clothing. At least three of the boys are wearing sailor suits. Many of the
children are wearing a badge of some kind--some of them two badges. A few of the girls wear pinafores. The portraut was taken 3 years after the NAZIs seized power. We do not notice any NAZI symbols in the classroom. Hitler's portrait is not on the wall, although only one wall is visible.
We note a German primary school class in 1948. They are a third year class and all boys. Gender separation appearently ws still quite common in 1948. A few of the boys wear lederhosen, but there may be more as many have jackets. We note that everal boys have Bavarian kackets. We are not sure where theis photograph was taken, but we suspect Bavaria.
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Created: September 4, 2001
Last updated: 3:17 AM 9/26/2008
