Romanian Schools

Figure 1.--This photo postcard was mailed from Bucarest, Romania to Fraulein Clara May in Dresden, Germany. It shows a boy wearing what we believe is a school uniform and his older sister wearing a sailor dress. We are not sure if this is also a school uniform, but it could be. They may be Germans living in Romania. The card is written in German. Click on the image to see the message and translation. The children are talking about telephones. Because it is a post card and King Carol I is on the stamp, we believe it was sent about 1910. There is a postmark, but the year is not clear.

HBC has not yet obtained much information on Romanian schools or schoolwear, but we have begun our assessment. A few schools were established as the Romanian principalities gained their autonomy from the Ottoman Empire (early-19th century). Romania was created as a modern unified state (1866). As the Romanians could not agree on one of their own to become king, Chancellor Bismarck secured the crown for a German prince--King Carol I (1866). The German monarchy strongly influencd many aspects of Romanian life, espcially the middle-class urban population. Education was one of the many areas, if not the most important institution influenced by Germany. And it is at this time that the country began to build a modern European educational system. We see boys wearing school uniforms in the era before World War I. We believe that this was mostly in the secondary schools. We believe that uniforms were worn during the Communist era. We do have some limited information about Romanian military schools. We also have some information on the Banat during the Austrian/Austro-Hungarain era. The Banat is a Austro-Hungarian Province that after World War II was divided between Romania and Yugoslavia. As in other countries, we hope to build a section on indidiual schools. At this time, however, all we have is a school portrait at a unidentified school in Timisoara 1934 during 1934. Timosoara is located in western Romania, in the Banat region. It is a clearly public school, but we are not sure what kind of school it is.

Chronology

HBC has not yet obtained much information on Romanian schools or schoolwear, but we have begun our assessment. A few schools were established as the Romanian principalities gained their autonomy from the Ottoman Empire (early-19th century). Romania was created as a modern unified state (1866). As the Romanians could not agree on one of their own to become king, Chancellor Bismarck secured the crown for a German prince--King Carol I (1866). The German monarchy strongly influencd many aspects of Romanian life, especially the middle-class urban population. Education was one of the many areas, if not the most important institution influenced by Germany. And it is at this time that the country began to build a modern European educational system. The country built a system with high academic standards, but with limited acces for working-class childten. The Communists who seized power after World War II (1945) attemoted to expand access to education. The Communists used the schools for ideological political instruction. The Communists also intensified the Romanian nationalist emphasis. The concessions to minorities were significantly reduced. Rather than allowing minorities to preserv heir culture and language, the schools were used to Romanize minority children. The largest minority was Hungarians. The Hungarian-langusge schools were merged with Romanian schools (1960s). Practically this meant that almost all of the classes taught in Hungarian were now taught in Romanian. The goal of expanding access to education was seriously comprmised but the economic failure of the Communist regime. The country was unable to finance a quality education system. Along withb the rest of Eastern Europe, the Romanian Communist regime fell (1989). Throughout Eastern Europe there proved to be no support for Communism. The Communist regimes had been kept in power by the Soviet Red Army or the thret of Red Army intervention. With the fall of Communism, Romanian authorities set about building a non-political education system. The huge damage to the Romanian economy done by the Communits meant that financing a quality education system would be difficult. The country has been slowly making progress with needed reforms.

Uniforms

Romanian schools have a long history of school uniforms beginning in the late-19th century. We believe that that unifiorms before World War II were mostly for secondary schools, but we do not yet have much information on these uniforms over time. After the War, the Communists seized control of the country and the school system. We do have some information on the Communist era when the regulations on uniforms were particularly strict. We believe that the school uniform was also for the Young Pioneers youth group uniform. We have only begun to collect information. Schools continue to require unifirms after the fall of Communism.

Garments

We notice Romanian children mostly wearing regular clothing in the available school images. They thus are a good reflection of populr styles. We have few images from the 19th century, but we have fiound quite a few 20th century images. We note some children wearing traditional garments to school. And we see children with Romanian touches on basically Western garments. Most commonly this involved embroidery. We also see classes that have all dressed up in fancy traditional garments for their portraits. We see both boys and girls wearing traditional gaments, but it seem most common with the girls, probably because the girls liked to dress up more than the boys. These would have been outfits worn for special events such as village festivals. We see some whole school classes dressing up in traditional outfits, most rural primaries on special occassions. The girls mihht wear scarves along ith wear beautuifully embroidered blouses and skirts. The boys wear cossack caps, shirts tunics, and long pants. We see some uniforms. We see boys wearing school uniforms in the era before World War I. We believe that this was mostly in the secondary schools. We believe that uniforms were worn during the Communist era, but have not yet found many images.

School Types

We see both coed and suingle gender schools. We think the coed schools were small village schools. Many ciyy primary schools and most secondary schools were single gender chools. This changed after World War II and the Communist seuzure of powers. The schools ghriughoutthe country became coeducational. We do have some limited information about Romanian military schools.

Regions

The borders of Romania have vfaried significantly ovr time. This meant that several regions were at times part of Romania and at other times part of neighboring countries. These regions had mixed populations. It wasnt a matter of purely Romanian populatuions being transferred. We also have some information on the Banat during the Austrian/Austro-Hungarain era. The Banat is a Austro-Hungarian Province that after World War II was divided between Romania and Yugoslavia. Romania took on its modern borders afret World War II as Stalin determind the boundaries in his Easrern uropean empire.

Individual Schools

As in other countries, we hope to build a section on indidiual schools. At this time, however, all we have is a school portrait at a unidentified school in Timisoara 1934 during 1934. Timosoara is located in western Romania, in the Banat region. It is a clearly public school, but we are not sure what kind of school it is.






Careful, clicking on these will exit you from the Boys' Historical Clothing web site, but several are highly recommended

  • Boys' Preparstory Schools: Apertures Press has published a 125-page hard cover book depicting every-day life at British preparatory schools. The book includes about 250 never before published black and white and color photographs illustrating school life during the 1980s. There are also many older photographs to illustrate a brief historical essay providing background information on these splendid little schools. Accompanying the photographs are poems, essays, and quips by the children Preparatory schools in Britain prepare elementary-age children for the country's elite public (private) secondary schools. themselves describing their school experiences. Most of the photographs were taken in England and Scotland, but British preparatory schools in Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ulster are also shown.
  • Apertures Press New Zealand E-book: Aperures Press has publish its New Zealand school E-books. T this will permit readers to follow our process by viewing draft pages and pages in progress as we create them. Besides giving readers the opportunity to follow progress on the book as it develops, it gives our Quiwi friends the opportunity to review and comment on the various pages--allowing HBC to incorporate a much wider range of ideas and experiences than would otherwise have been possible.
  • British Preparatory Schools: These photographic books depict life at British preparatory schools during the 1980s. The schools are English and Scottish. The pictures depict the chool life and uniforms worn at many different schools.





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    Created: 6:04 AM 12/9/2014
    Last updated: 2:26 PM 5/17/2018