Figure 1.--Here because of the slate board we know this boy was photographed in 1919. Notice the small size of the Zuckertute. Even though the War ended in 1918, Germany was in turmoil with gun battles between the army, Freicorps, and Kadets (Communists). In addition the British did not immediately remove the Royal Navy blockade. As a result food and imported sugar was still scarse. Other than the small Zuckertute, there is an air of normality about this boy's fitst day portrait.

We are not yet sure how common Zuckertute were in the 1910s. We have quite a number of images we think could have been taken in the 1910s, but as they are not dated, we can not be sure that they are from the 1910s. Many may be from the early 20s. The 1910s included the World War I era. The difficult economic conditions would have reflected traditions like this. Candy in particular became hard to get. Sugar was a product Germany imported and these imports were largely cut off by the Royal Navy blockade. And the Zucker in Zuckertute meant sugar. We do not have a lot of Zuckertute portraits during the 1910s, but we have found a few. Some of them show very small Zuckertute. As we have relatively few portraits from the 1910s, we are not yet sure how common this was. Perhaps in the scarcity of candy in Germany during and after the War. Notice that that the Zuckertute here was not even filled to the top. Or perhaps the boy has already eaten the candy. One curious aspect here. Notice the date--April 28, 1919. At the time, school in Germany began in April. A German reader tells us, "Yes, in former times that was correct. School started after Easter. Nowadays it starts in August or September after summer hollidays. My Mum says the change was somewhere between 1965-1968."

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Created: 8:39 PM 3/17/2007
Last updated: 5:53 AM 3/19/2007