Individual Swiss State Schools: Winterthur School

Figure 1.--Here is a group of secondary school boys at the Winterthur School in the Zurich canton, dated 1929. The boys look to be about 12-13 years old. They wear short-trouser suits with long black stockings and white shirts with open collars. They were called Schiller collsars. One boy in the background seems to wear a necktie which is slightly askew, and another boy seems to have a white (but striped) shirt. Notice that all the boys wear hightop shoes. Swiss schools didn't usually require uniforms (this is a public school), but the fact that all wear suits perhaps reflects the fact that they were dressed for the photographer. The date of the photo is March 22, 1929.

Winterthur is a town in northeastern Switzerland within the Zurich canton of Switzerland, picturesque and noted for a certain affluence. Winterthur dates back to Roman times. It is one of the country's largest towns. The locals call it Winti. Winterthur developed an industrial base (19th century). Companies like like Sulzer, Rieter and SLM built lopened factories. It is both a service and high tech industry center and a bed-room suburn to Zurich because of the excellent train service. We have obtained some photographs at the local dcgools over time.

Winterthur

Winterthur is a town in northeastern Switzerland within the Zurich canton of Switzerland, picturesque and noted for a certain affluence. Winterthur dates back to Roman times. It is one of the country's largest towns. The locals call it Winti. Winterthur developed an industrial base (19th century). Companies like like Sulzer, Rieter and SLM built lopened factories. It is both a service and high tech industry center and a bed-room suburn to Zurich because of the excellent train service. It has become a regional transportation hub with excellebt connectiins to Germany and Italy. The Winterthur's train station is one of the busiest in Switzerland.

Kindergarten

The school photographer visited the school on March 4, 1946, less than a year after World War II ended in Europe. Both photos can thus be precisely dated. The first image shows two boys from a kindergarten class. These boys look to be about 6 years old, the upper age for kindergartens in Switzerland. The boys wear short pants with suspenders. In one case the suspenders are leather and are worn in addition to a leather belt. The long stockings are obviously worn with a Strapsleibchen, the garter attachments of which show on the upper leg--apparently because the stockings aren't quite long enough. The boys were probably growing quite fast. Notice that the suspenders in both cases are worn on top of sweaters rather than underneath.

Primary School

The second image comes from a different photo--a class at the upper end of the primary grades. This boy is at least eleven and perhaps 12 (about 8th grade level in American terms). He is very neatly dressed in a wool pullover sweater with shirt buttoned at the collar with no necktie. He wears short trousers with long tan stockings, obviously with a Strapleibchen (probably with four supporter straps). Many boys his age wore baggy knickers to school in 1946 Switzerland, but long stockings worn with shorts were still quite popular with a fairly large minority of the boys, perhaps because they were less bulky and offered greater freedom of movement, important for boys who liked to hike in the mountains.

Secondary School

Here is a group of secondary school boys at the Winterthur School in the Zurich canton, dated 1929. The boys look to be about 12-13 years old. They wear short-trouser suits with long black stockings and white shirts with open collars. They were called Schiller collsars. One boy in the background seems to wear a necktie which is slightly askew, and another boy seems to have a white (but striped) shirt. Notice that all the boys wear hightop shoes. Swiss schools didn't usually require uniforms (this is a public school), but the fact that all wear suits perhaps reflects the fact that they were dressed for the photographer. Or perhaps wearing suits was a well established convention at the school. It is interesting that the suits, shirts, and hosiery are all similar. The date of the photo is March 22, 1929.

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Created: 7:02 AM 3/6/2010
Last updated: 8:49 AM 1/18/2011