Individual Swiss State Schools: Ilnau Primary School

Figure 1.--This is Ilinau Primary School in Ilinau, Switzerland, a town in the Zurich canton. There is only one public there so it has the same name as the village. These children 4th graders, about 10 years old. The photo was taken on November 12, 1954. There teacher, standing in back at the right, is Herr H. Straub. All the children seem to be wearing long stockings since it is late autumn and therefore chilly, although the children don't seem to be uncomfortable out of doors without overcoats or outer jackets.

This is Ilinau Primary School in Ilinau, Switzerland, a town in the Zurich canton. There is only one public there so it has the same name as the village. These children 4th graders, about 10 years old. The photo was taken on November 12, 1954. There teacher, standing in back at the right, is Herr H. Straub. All the children seem to be wearing long stockings since it is late autumn and therefore chilly, although the children don't seem to be uncomfortable out of doors without overcoats or outer jackets. There are still leaves on the trees. All the children appear to be wearing long stockings neatly supported by garters undoubtedly attached to a Leibcchen, sometimes referred to colloquially as "stocking shirts" (sleeveless bodices with four supporters attached, two for each leg). Most of the boys wear pullover sweaters with their short trousers. One boy in the front row wears the baggy plus-fours that were sometimes substituted for short trousers and long stockings. With plus-fours, the boys usually wore knee socks. Two boys wear knee socks with their shorts. But long stockings are more common, usually brown, tan, or beige (as is the case with the boy sitting on the ground in the front row to the extreme right. The girls seem to be wearing pinafores in all cases. One detail worth remarking is the sleeve garters worn by the boy in the front row who has on a white shirt with suspenders to hold up his short trousers. The white shirt is probably a hand-me-down from an older brother with the sleeves too long for the boy, so he wears elastics around his arms just above the elbows to keep the cuffs from covering his hands. Sleeve garters were often worn by adult men in the 1950s because shirts in Europe were often sold with a single sleeve length for a particular neck size--a more economical way of manufacturing shirts than have different sleeve lengths (as usually in America) for a neck size. It may be that the same practice of having only a single sleeve length applied also to boys' shirts. You can see the way the sleeves blouse above the boy's elbows. Notice also the way several boys wear their suspenders on top of sweaters so that the sweaters have to be tucked into the trousers. This is the style of a boy in the third row on the left and a boy in the front row sitting on the ground.

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Created: 4:02 AM 3/21/2009
Last updated: 4:02 AM 3/21/2009