German Middle Class Family: Family Outing (1930s)


Figure 1.--Here we see a German family out for a country walk. Notice the boy's binoculars. Does this mean that they were bird watchers. The snap shot, presumably taken by father, looks to have been taken in the 1930s. The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit.

We have no information the family here. We suspect that they are a modest middle class family. The scene is a little incomplete because father is missing. The snap shot, presumably taken by father. Father usually managed the camera at the time. The photograph looks to have been taken in the 1930s. The ladies hat in particular looks like the 1930s. The early 40s seems possible, but the 30s seems more likely to us. Here we see a German family out for a country walk (figure 1). This seems to have been a particularly popular activity in Germany. We see quite a number of similar snapshots in the photographic record. I'm not sure if this is still the case. Notice the boy's binoculars. Does this mean that they were bird watchers? The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit. It would be his cols weather sailor suit, probably made in serge or some other heavy wool material. With his sailor suit he wears what look like kneesocks and high-top shoes. Some readers are unsure about the socks. The girl looks to be wearing a dress with a sweater over it.

The Family

We have no information the family here. We suspect that they are a modest middle class family. The scene is a little incomplete because father is missing. The snap shot, presumably taken by father. Father usually managed the camera at the time.

Chronology

The photograph looks to have been taken in the 1930s. The ladies hat in particular looks like the 1930s. The early 40s seems possible, but the 30s seems more likely to us.

Family Outing

Here we see a German family out for a country walk (figure 1). This seems to have been a particularly popular activity in Germany. We see quite a number of similar snapshots in the photographic record. I'm not sure if this is still the case. Notice the boy's binoculars. Does this mean that they were bird watchers?

Children's Clothes

The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit. It would be his cols weather sailor suit, probably made in serge or some other heavy wool material. With his sailor suit he wears what look like kneesocks and high-top shoes. Some readers are unsure about the socks. The girl looks to be wearing a dress with a sweater over it. She wears low-cut shoes. She seems to have rolled her socks down to her ankles. I am not sure if they were kneesocks or long stockings. Baby seems to be wearing a white dress with a hair bow. Mother seems all bundled up. Notice that the children do not have caps.

Reader Question

A reader writes, "I cannot tell for certain, but the boy's stockings look as if they are long stockings that were folded down due to warm weather." Yes that is difficult to tell. There is no knee cuff. Is it possible that they were turned down all the way to the ankles. Another reader writes, "I wondered about these socks myself. They look like dark grey woolen knee socks to me, but they have slipped down just a bit to look like three-quarter socks, and there is a bulge on the left leg under the sock which could have been caused by a bandage of some sort. But it's a bit puzzling. The socks are too early to have any elasticizing in the tops, and they have slipped down the boy's leg a little bit since, apparently, he wears no garters." Another reader writes, "After taking a hard look at this photo, I think your reader is correct that these are long stockings that have been unfastened from the boy's garters and Leibchen and turned down over the knees because of the warm weather. The stockings seem to be woolen or at least heavy textured and would be uncomfortable on a hot day."

Max

A HBC reader speaks from his personal experience in the 1930s. His experiences about how itchy wool long stockings were when he had to wear them as a boy provide some insights here. "For formal occassions, especially for church, we always wore black long stockings with suspenders [i.e. hose supporters]. The stockings were fixed with a white button at the suspender (only one) which was attached to a "Leibchen" (bodice). All of our stockings were homeknit made with perhaps untreated wool. I remember destinctly how the wool itched enormously on my thighs. This was the torture of my childhood. We wore the same outfit both during the winter as well as the warm summer months. The long wool stockings were of course especially uncomfortable in warm weather. Sometimes we could hardly walk because of the itching was so painful. We had to wear this kind of dress throughout the whole year at special occasions." In his family even in hot summer, bare knees were not considered proper in church. [HBC note: Readers may want to look at the German long stockings page for background information.]








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Created: 7:12 PM 3/19/2006
Last updated: 7:12 PM 3/19/2006