Figure 1.--This German boy looks to be about 8-9 years old. He is dressed warmly for cold weather. The snapshot is undated. It looks like the early-1950s. Notice the Schirmmütze" cap, the dark short jacket, and the brown long stockings. He seems to be standing on the threshold of a shop that sells poreline figurines. Presumably his family owned the shop.

Jackets are done in many different styles and in different materials. We see German boys wearing quite a range of dufferent styles. Some are water-resistant, but usually not waterproof. Other are wool jackets which were not water-resistant. After World War I we see boys with sweaters made to look rather like jackets in the cardigan style. And during the 1930s almost all German boys had Hitler Youth jackets they wore with their HJ uniforms. The BDM also wore them. Because of the negative associations, this is not a good name for these jackets after the War. There were similarities with the American Eisenhower jackets. We might just call these jackets short jackets. They were done in various fabrics. The Hitler Youth jsckets were done in corduroy. Alpine or Bavarian Tegernsee jackets were popular in southern Germany. We seem being worn as both suit and casual jackets. We also see another jacket with a sailor back flap, another kind of youth uniform garment. We are not sure what the name for these jackets was. A popular style which seems to have appeared in the 1960s was the deck jacket which was usually water-resistant, They were usually done in blue and khaki and had zipper pockets. We might describe it as an unpadded ski jacket. We notice windbreakers after World War II. While unpadded, when warm with sweaters they could be quite warm.

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Created: 10:37 PM 10/18/2010
Last updated: 10:37 PM 10/18/2010