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After the War school fashions changed little. The problem was that Germany was impoverished. May boys wore clothes that they had outgrown or hand me downs. Families did as best theu could. This began to change after 1948 when the economy began to recover. German boys did not wear uniforms to school, except at the Hitler Youth boarding schools. The thought of wearing a uniform, especially putting children in uniform was repulsive to most Germans. The Germans any many ways tried to emulate America--many aware of the stark contrast between NAZI and American occupation. And of course there were no school uniforms in the America of the 1940s. The mere thought of uniforms on children would have brought on harsh, realistic memories of the Hitler Youth and terrible Third Reich and its ghastly, un-Godly doings. Gernan boys in the early post-War era wore mostly white or plained colored shirts. The colorful shirts worn by Americans proved popular first in the American Occupation Zone and gradually spread througout the rest of Germany. Most boys wore short pants to school, often suspender or H-bar shorts. Lederhosen became increasingly common including areas other than Bavaria. Lederhosen were widely worn in the 1950s, but declined in popularity as jeands became increasingly popular in the 1960s.
School in Germany at the time began in April. As a result of the war, many schools were badlky damaged and the children were evacuated to the countryside. After the War it was difficult to reopen many schools because the buildings in the cities were either destroyed or badly damjaged. A reader who began secondary school (gymnasium) after the war tells us, "Our school in Stuttgart (population 400 000 to 500 000) was reopened in October 1945. Furing the Winter 1945-46 we had to bring wood for heating a "Kanonenofen" (round iron stove) in our class room. Parts of the building were destroyed and no central heating possible, nor was coal available. The winter 1946-47 was very severe, heating the room in this manner was not sufficient. Nearby, about a mile away, there was a school building which was not destroyed in the war; the central heating was operating and coal was available. Together with classes from other schools around we had a shortened curriculum, only 20 minutes three times a week, just to get our assignments. As there was only a 5 minutes break between one class (to leave a room) and the next to come, we had to assemble at the entrance and were guided to the room which was assigned for our short time, all in a hurry. Later, our building was reconstructed and available the whole year without such limitations." After the War school fashions changed little. The problem was that Germany was impoverished. Many boys wore clothes that they had outgrown or hand me downs. Families did as best theu could. This began to change after 1948 when the economy began to recover. German boys did not wear uniforms to school, except at the Hitler Youth boarding schools. The thought of wearing a uniform, especially putting children in uniform was repulsive to most Germans. The Germans any many ways tried to emulate America--many aware of the stark contrast between NAZI and American occupation. And of course there were no school uniforms in the America of the 1940s. The mere thought of uniforms on children would have brought on harsh, realistic memories of the Hitler Youth and the terrible Third Reich and its ghastly, un-Godly doings. German boys in the early post-War era wore mostly white or plained colored shirts. The colorful shirts worn by Americans proved popular first in the American Occupation Zone and gradually spread througout the rest of Germany. Most boys wore short pants to school, often suspender or H-bar shorts.
There was little difference between East and West Germany in the 1940s. East Germany was the more agranian part of Germany with much of the industry in the West. Social patterns, educational standards, and living conditions were very similar. This change markedly in the 1950s. The United States intriduced the Marshal Plan (1947) to help the devestated economies of Europe recover. Irinically no coyntry benefitted more from this than Germany, the country responsible for most of the devestation. But it was only West Germany that benefitted. Stalin would not allow the East Germans and other Soviet Eastern European satellite countries participate. The result was the German Economic Miricle. During the 1950s, German living standards quickly surpased those in Britain. One of the many consequences of the German economic expansion was clothing and fashion. German workers never had so much disposible income. And one area in which they spent was clothing. German children never were so wel drssed and no just the well-to-do and middle class, but the workers as well. For the first time in German history it was no longer ro determine the social origins of children by the way they dressed. Casual clothing became mopre common at school. Boys continued to commonly dress in short psants, although by the end of the decade most boys wore long pants when the weather turned cool. Long stockings went out of style, but at the end of the decade tights became available. Lederhosen became increasingly common including areas other than Bavaria. Lederhosen were widely worn in the 1950s.
Germany began the 1960s as the most prosperous and rapidly growing country in Europe. This could hardly be imagined by both Germans and foreigners that viewed the wrecked cities and piles of rubble after the World War II. In only a little than a decade it was becoming increasingly difficult to see the devestation wreaked opon Germany during the War--at least in West Germany. (War damage was even more vissible in Britain wjich had suffered only a fraction of the devestation visited on Germany.) And while living standards in East Germany in no way measured up to standards in the West, East German standards were well above those in the Soviet Union and other East European Soviet Satellite countries. West German boys by the 1960s were well dresses. Mosr boys had well appointed wardrobes with a wide variety of fashionable clothes. no longer wore suits to school, but comfortable casual clothing. We still see some boys wearing short pants to school during the warmer months, but long pants were becomong increasingly common even with younger boys. Knee socks were much less common and rarely seen by the end of the decade. And during the colder months almost all boys wore long pants, especially by the late 196-s. Lederhosen deolined in popularity as American-style jeans became increasingly popular in the 1960s. Up until the 1960s it was often possible to identify the nationality of German and many other European children from the clothes they wore. Beginning in the 1960s, especially by the late 60s, this become much more difficult to do.
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