Figure 5.--The sixth picture is undated but looks to have been taken about a year later. The boys would have been about 5 and 9 years old. They wear traditional white sailor suits, but this time with long pants. They are worn with white socks and white strap shoes. This is the only portrait in which the boys are wearing their caps. Kurt poses very casually. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
The sixth picture is undated but looks to have been taken about a year later. The boys would have been about 5 and 9 years old. They wear traditional white sailor suits, presimably with blue collars and cuffs. This time they wear long pants. Like their blue suit these long white pants have cuffs. They are worn with white socks and white strap shoes. This is the only portrait in which the boys are wearing their caps. They are soft white caps, presumably woth a black streamer at the back. Their caps have a bold band where a real sailor would display the name of his ship. Note that their caps read "Rheinland". I am not sure if this was a famous German battle ship in World War I or a political statement in that the Rheinland at the time was occupied by the French. Hitler was to electrify Germany when he remilitarized the Rhineland in 1935--his first risky adventure on the path to World War II.
The sixth picture is undated but looks to have been taken about a year later. We woulkd guess about 1927. This is the inter-war era, several years before the NAZIs seized power in Germany.
The boys would have been about 5 and 9 years old.
This is the only portrait in which the boys are wearing their caps. They are soft white caps, presumably woth a black streamer at the back. Their caps have a bold band where a real sailor would display the name of his ship. In this case their caps bear the legend "Rhineland". These caps followed the style of the caps worn by German enlisted sailors. They would have had stramers in the back.
The boys wear traditional white sailor suits, presimably with blue collars and cuffs. This time they wear long pants. Their sailor scrves are tied in neat knots with a little wide band as was very common in Germany.Like their blue suit these long white pants have cuffs.
They are worn with white socks and white strap shoes. Strap shoes were considerd a dressy shoe style. Strap shoes were most commonly worn by boys from affluent families.
Note that their caps read "Rheinland". I am not sure if this was a famous German battle ship in World War I or a political statement in that the Rheinland at the time was occupied by the French. Hitler was to electrify Germany when he remilitarized the Rhineland in 1935--his first risky adventure on the path to World War II. A HBC reader reports, "In the past, it was popular for German and Austrian boys wear the name of their region on one of their garments, just as on their caps or on a badge sewn on their clothes. This was how how proud they were of their region." Here we know that the boys lived in Dusseldorf north of th Rhineland. Perhaps their father was fron the Rhineland.
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