School Uniforms:  Germany during the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933


Figure 1.--These German school children are off together on their first day of school sometime in the 1920s. Notice their gift cones. I would guess the mid- or late-1920s. There are quite a few interesting aspects of this photograph. Click on the image for a more detailed discussion.

Germany's defeat in World War I (1914-18) brought about the abdication of the Kaiser and formation of the Weimar Republic. The disorders following the war, economic dislaocation, and rampant imflation brought on terrible hardships with the German people. Despite the difficicilties, Germany still had arguably the finest educational system in Europe. German schools after the First World War continued the policy of allowing boys to wear the clothes parents selected for them. Given the horrors of the First World War it is understandable that German parents would have little reason to develop an interest in uniforms for school children, although the War did not affect British opinions on uniforms. Interestingly, sailor suits continued to be a popular style for boys, including older boys than wore sailor suits--both with short and long pants. Many of our images of German school children taken on their first day of school come from the Weimar era. It is a tradition on a child's first day of school in many countries to take a photograph. There was a great deal of diversity in the clothes boys wore to school during the Weimar era. One way of assessing the different clothes is looking at individual classes during the period to see what boys were wearing.

Political Background

Germany's defeat in World War I (1914-18) brought about the abdication of the Kaiser and formation of the Weimar Republic. The disorders following the war, economic dislaocation, and rampant imflation brought on terrible hardships with the German people. Despite the difficicilties, Germany still had arguably the finest educational system in Europe. German scgools, universities, and technical institutes guaranted a quality basic education to all and advanced education to those able to pass competitive examinations.

School Wear Garments

German schools after the First World War continued the policy of allowing boys to wear the clothes parents selected for them. Given the horrors of the First World War it is understandable that German parents would have little reason to develop an interest in uniforms for school children, although the War did not affect British opinions on uniforms. Interestingly, sailor suits continued to be a popular style for boys, including older boys than wore sailor suits--both with short and long pants. Many younger boys wore long stockings which were even more common for girls. This varied from Britain and America where it became increasingly rare in the 1920s for older boys to wear them. A few boys also wore smocks, at least in the early 1920s. Most boys that didn't wear sailor suits, however, wore short pants suits of various designs. We notice quite a wide range oh headwear.

First Day

Many of our images of German school children taken on their first day of school come from the Weimar era. It is a tradition on a child's first day of school in many countries to take a photograph. Sometimes this was done formally, but more common a snapshot was taken at home. The photographs show not only the child's clothing, but often book bags and even flowers or other gifts for the teacher. The children here were clearly photographed on their first day of school (figure 1). This tradition is less formal today, although children are much photographed than ever before.

Curriculum

We do not have details on the curriculum at German schools during the Weimar Republic. Even after the dissaster of World War I and the ensuing ecoinimic difficulties, Germany continued to give a high priority to its educationalm system which continued to be perhaps the best in Europe. German teachers and parents continued to demand academoc excellence. We believe that both science and math were an important part of the curriculum, even at the primary level. This is a topic we need to persue in greater detail.

Individual Schools

There was a great deal of diversity in the clothes German boys wore to school during the Weimar era. One way of assessing the popularity of different garments at the time is looking at individual classes during the period to see what boys were wearing.Many boys in the early 1920s wore the suits thast buttoned at the collar without lapels. Some boys wore sweaters rather than suits. I think these were generally the boys from less affluent families. We notice knee pants were very common, often with long stockings. Often some of the boys in the class wore sailor suits. Many but not all of the boys have close-cropped hair. This style gradually became less important by the late 20s. We have found quite a number of German school images. Infortunately few are unidentified by the name of the school. The fashions allow us to approximately work out the year. We welcome reader assessments as to the approximate date of the unidentified images. Without the name of the school, we have no idea where the photographs were taken.







HBC






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Created: December 18, 1998
Last updated: 9:33 PM 9/30/2012