Figure 1.--This image shows a German classroom in 1913. Note the gas rather than electric lights. Also notice the boys' copy books. Image courtesy of the MD collection.
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Figure 1.--This image shows a German classroom in 1913. Note the gas rather than electric lights. Also notice the boys' copy books. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
This class was photographed in 1913 and is especially interesting because the boys are shown inside their classroom. As a result, we not only see how the boys were dressed, but also what the classrooms and desks looked like. It looks like this was quite a happy class with a very friendly teacher. The classroom also looks very crowed. We see over 30 boys in the photograph, but it is not clear that the phoograph covers the entire class. You would think that the photographer and teacher would have tried to get all of the boys in the photograph.
We had tought that this class was photographed in 1913 and is especially interesting because the boys are shown inside their classroom. As a result, we not only see how the boys were dressed, but also what the classrooms and desks looked like. A reader suggests that the photograph might have been made "later than 1913.
Where you are reading: 'Photograph seit 1913' means 'Photographer since 1913'. That means that the man who took the picture was a professional photographer as of 1913. But of course this could have very well been one of his first pictures in his job as a photographer. I myself cannot tell by looking at the clothes the boys and the teacher are wearing."
Like so many of these images, we know little about this scgool.
While it is unidentified, there is a photographers mark on the back of the image but the picture has been cropped slightly and some of the address has been lost. All I can make out is: "Alaunstr 100, Ha..... Photograph seit 1913"
It looks like this was quite a happy class with a very friendly teacher. The classroom also looks very crowed. We see over 30 boys in the photograph, but it is not clear that the phoograph covers the entire class. You would think that the photographer and teacher would have tried to get all of the boys in the photograph.
This was an all boy school. We have seen some photographs of mixed classes. This probably varied somewhat among the German states. Also it is likely that small rural schools were mixed while urban states were more likely to be single gender schools.
Figure 2.--The teacher looks to have a wonderful relationship with his students. Note two boys wearing sailor suits and the one boy who has opened his desk box. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
The photograph besides showing what the children wore is a wonderful depictin of the the great desks where the children sat. The desks shown here appear to be two seat desks. Note the boxes on the desks. Presumably the boys kept their pens and pencils and other school items in these boxes. They look to be made out of cigar boxes. Noticed one boy has opened his box.
The teacher seems to be quite a jovial person with a very friendly relationship with his students. He does not seem very stern like the teachers wesee in many of these photographs of pre-World War I classes. Also notice his very modern looking clothes, he could just as well have been a teacher in the 1930s.
The boys in the classroom wear a wide variety of outfits. Some we are not sure just how to describe. For the most part only their blouses and shirts and sweaters or jackets show in the photograph. Some of the shirts look rather modern while others are more dated. As was common in these photographs, some boys wore sailor suits. Here there are great variations some classes like the class here have only a few boys wearing sailor suits while other classes have quite a few boys coming to school in sailor suits. A few boys have the square collars that were popular in the early 20th century. Only one boy wears a bow. Most of the boys presumably wore kneepants or short pants, alhtough this is possible to see in only a few instances. Some but not all of the boys wear long stockings.
Figure 3.--Quite a range of outfits can be seen here. One boy wears a patrened sweater. I'm not sure what the boy with the longish hair is wearing. Several boys wear jackets, but only one boy wears a suit jacket, a double breasted jacket. Notice he wears short pants and long sockings held up by heavy rubber bands. Notice the pencil box in the foreground. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
Boys are wearing both shirts and blouses. All look t have attached rather detachable collars.Some of the shirts look rather modern while others are more dated. The boys wearing shirts have buttoned them at the collar.
Several boys wear jackets, but only one a few wear suit jackets. One boy wears a double breasted jacket (figure 3). Another boys wears a single breasted jacket.
Several boys wear various types of sweatrs. You get the idea that the photograph was taken during the winter. One boy is wearing a sleeveless sweater (figure 2). A number of boys have paterened sweaters. One boy wears a sweater that seems to have a turtleneck (figure 3)
As was common in these photographs, some boys wore sailor suits. Here there are great variations some classes like the class here have only a few boys wearing sailor suits while other classes have quite a few boys coming to school in sailor suits. Note the very traditioinal styling of the sailor suit that the boy is wearing who is sitting to the right of the teacher. One of the boys can be seen to be wearing a blue short pants sailor suit with traditional styling (figure 2). The boy sitting to the teacher's left also seems to be wearing a sailor, but I am not sure about the color.
A few boys have the square collars that were popular in the early 20th century. We have noted blouses with this square collar being commonly worn in the 1900s. One boy here looks to be wearing a quare collared garment that appears more of a sweater (figure 2).
Figure 4.--One boy here wears a wide white collar and bow, thge only one wearing this style. Bows were more popular at the turn of the 20th century. Note the one boy wearing long stockings. Two boys are holding something up for the photographer, but I am not sure what. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
Only one boy wears a bow. A few years earlier, quite a number of boys this age would have come to school wearing bows.
Most of the boys presumably wore kneepants or short pants, although this is possible to see in only a few instances.
Some but not all of the boys wear long stockings. Notice one boy with long sockings held up by heavy rubber bands. He wears dark long stockings. Another boy wears the lighter-colored long stockings that were becoming more popular.
Almost all of these boys have short hair, but we notice only a few boys with the shaved or close cropped hair that we see in some of thgese German class portraits. We are not positive how to interpret this. One boy has longish hair (figure 3), rather unusual for the early 20th century in Germany.
A German reader writes, "The atmosphere was almost the same as it was when I first went to school in April 1939. There is one boy who wears long stockings with a support band high on his legs, and his very long underpants which were stuffed into the stockings. I remember this in schoo. I thought at the time that it looked so horrible. I hated because it was so unelegant, but I never had to suffer it myself. It might have been nice and warm, however, when it was really cold. This was however not the case on the day shown here as other boys were not even wearing long stockings with their kneepants. The suit the teacher wears was typical." Another reader writes, "An interesting variety of clothing is depicted but what makes this image stand out from the many school photos I have are the wonderfully happy smiles on the faces of the children."
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