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A French reader tells us about a friend in Austria that had French-Austrian parents. As a boy I lived in Austria for a few years. It was a few years after World War II. One of our family friends were a Austrian-French couple. Austrian at the time was divided into Eastern (Soviet) and Western (Allied) occupation zones. They lived in Paris and often visited relatives in the Soviet occupation sector. They had two children, the oldest boy was just my age. His name was Michèl. His mother was very concious and loved to dress him in the latest styles, especually French styles. She also when he was small let his hair grow long and would very fashionally style it. This was not unusual in France at the time, but was not very common in Austria. The photograph here shows him wearing choupette and wore a classic French romper ( baboteuse ). The choupette here is done in ringlets, this as not the most common way of doung it. He wore both French and Austrian clothes. When visting his French grand partents, he was always dressed in French clothes. His granparents
considered him a little German boy and so soon after the War there was still a great deal of bitternes toward the Germans in France. Our families became friends. I took several vacations with his parents, including wonderful motoring holidays together in Austria.
Germany invaded France in 1940 as part of its Western Offensive (May-June 1940). The French army collapsed in only a few weeks. Except for those who got to England at Dunkirk, virtually the entire French army surendered to the Germans and were interned in prison camps in the Reich. Michèl's father was one of those prisoners.
Michèl's father was sent to work on an Austrian farm where he spent virtually the entire War. All the young men were absent in this village, having been drafted for the War. His father was soon the defacto director of this farm. I supose he was rather happy, certainly it was better than fighting in the War and being on the farm, there was food. He fell in love with a local woman and they had Michèl in January 1944. There were strict rules against foreign workers fraternizing with German women. Many foreign workers were shot for such infractions. In this case the French soldiers on the farm seem to have been accepted by the locals and no one reported what had happened to the Gestapo.
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They had one child, a boy a few years younger than me. His name was Michèl. Michèl's story is the same lived by many others children born during or right after World War II.
After liberation in 1945, Michèl's father, brought his family home with him. Michèl still was a toddler. They lived for a while in his parents home.
I knew Michèl's french granparents and I can say they had the old very traditional French mentality. This is the raison why Michèl had his hair done in a choupette and was often dressed in rompers. The long hair with a
sort of ringlet were also seen in this time. I have seen the old photos of his familly. In all of them Michèl and his younger brother are very fashionably dressed.
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His mother was very fashion concious and loved to dress him in the latest styles, especially French styles to please her French mother-in-law. She was a wonderful lady and when Michèl became friends I became very attached to her as well.
She also when he was small let his hair grow long and would very fashionally style it. This was not unusual in France at the time, but was not very common in Austria. The photograph here shows him wearing choupette and wore a classic French romper ( baboteuse ). The choupette here is done in ringlets, this as not the most common way of doing it. He wore both French and Austrian clothes.
As a todler Michèl and his brotherv commonly wore classic French rompers as seen here. The French one piece romper didn't exsisted in Austria , but
the puffed litte pants with bib for baby could be seen.
When visting his French grand partents, he was always dressed in French clothes. His granparents
considered him a little German boy and so soon after the War there was still a great deal of bitternes toward the Germans in France. [HBC note: Austrians after the War claimed that because of the Anchluss they were one of the occupied countries. Many Europeans, however, saw them as little different if not worse than the Germans. Many Austrians were enthisiastic NAZIs.]
Austrian at the time was divided into Eastern (Soviet) and Western (Allied) occupation zones. Michèl's grandparents lived in the Soviet occupation sector.
The familly would often visited their relatives in Austria.
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Michèl and I are the same age. I met him while living in Austria during 1953. Michèl was visiting his Austrian grandparents on holiday. We quickly became best friends a friendship which continued to adulthood.
Bernard was Michèl's little brother. He was born in 1947. As a younger boy, quite often he had his hair done in a little barrette. It was a way of keeping longish hair in place. Like Michèl he often wore rompers. Ater he gtaduate from rompers he wore short velver shorts and blouses with puffed sleeves. Here he can be seen wearing velvet suspender shorts, sandallettes, and white kneesocks. He is also wearing a light wool sweater, hard to see as he is alsom wearing a whire shirt. It was a typical modern French look in 1954.
I would take trips togeher with his family. I especially enjoyed the motoring trips in the beautiful Austrian countryside. Here I am with them in 1954 (figure 3). The photo was taken in Niderösterreich, not far from Vienna. One can see Michèl with his mother. In front is his little brother who is wearing French Velvet suspenders shorts, very fashionable at the time. The other two children are his cousins. The boy is wearing lederhosen. Lederhosen were very common at the time in Austria, especially in the country outside of Vienna. Many country children at the time wore lederhosen and went barefoot like this boy. Michèl and are wearing short pants as usual with a shirt and a wool sweater. We still were not selecting our own clothes at the time.
Michèl's mother select his clothing and Ninera (my nanny) chose mine. Often I wore suspender shorts. We prefered to wear the suspender on our suspender shorts underneath our sweaters. With a wool jacket ( much more worn than
the suit jacket ), our suspenders were not visible. It was a new modern way to worn suspenders for boys more 10 years old. I had a lot of different short pants. I remember having culotte anglaise (English short pants) without suspenders.
Michèl's family in France lived in the Paris suburbs and we would get together regulary. Later as teenagers we traveled together in Austria and other parts of Europe. Michèl speaks fluently Austrian dialect and German. Myself I understand fluently the Austrian dialect, but I don't speak it. In school only German was spoken with a southern German accent.
Readers may want to look in the French catalog and advertising section for more infornation about the styles that the boys here are wering un the 1940s and 50s. Other useful HBC sections are the French garment and the French chronology sections. The French hair style page is also useful. We do not yet have an Austrian catalog page, but there are pages for Austrian chronology and Austrian garments. We also note a film I think made in Austria during the 1950s where the boys are dressed just like Michèl's cousin here, Mein schatz ist aus Tyrol (1958).
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