Here we have a group of boys that is surely part of a German sports club. The shirt logo suggests a Berlin group. I'm not sure how to date this photograph, but would guess the 1920s. I'm also unsure about the sport, but would guess gymnastics. The black long stockings seems unusual for a sport's club. Black long stockings by the 1920s had become primarily worn for formal occassions and not for sport. A reader writes, "I think the long black stockings are less unusual in Germany for athletics than would be the case in other countries, because such stockings were such an ordinary feature of schoolboy's normal dress during the 1920s. We also note a group of Swedish boys doing calisthenics with knee pants and black long stockings a few years earlier."
Here we have a group of boys that is surely part of a German sports club. We are guessing that this is the junior division of what was a sport's club primarily for adults. Sport's clubs were probably the major institution offering athletics and sports for boys an young men. I believe that this was an essentially male institition.
The shirt logo suggests a Berlin group. The symbol for Berlin is a rampant bear. A reader asks, "I am also interested in the symbol on the shirts." It looks like the Berlin symbol to us.
I'm not sure how to date this photograph, but would guess the 1920s.
I'm also unsure about the sport, but would guess gymnastics. A reader writes, "To me it could be either gymnastics or boxing. I could not tell the difference from these uniforms."
Some of the shirts and long sleeves and most short sleeves. The boys wear matching short pants. The black long stockings seems unusual for a sport's club. Black long stockings by the 1920s had become primarily worn for formal occassions and not for sport. A reader writes, "I think the long black stockings are less unusual in Germany for athletics than would be
the case in other countries, because such stockings were such an ordinary feature of schoolboy's normal dress during the 1920s. We also note a group of Swedish boys doing calisthenics with knee pants and black long stockings a few years earlier." Another reader writes concerning the photograph here, "I noticed a feature that is worth commenting upon about the image here (figure 1). It is, however, rather difficult to see. At least two of
the boys seem to be wearing suspender waists to support their black
long stockings. Notice that the fourth boy from left (standing) seems
to have white suspender straps over his white T shirt. You can see the
straps even more clearly on the first boy sitting in the first row
(first from the left). These straps do not seem to be holding up the
white short trousers (which are secured by black belts). They
apparently are worn to hold up the boys' stockings, continuing down the
front underneath the shorts so as to from garters. The straps are hard
to see, being white, but they are quite visible on at least two of the
boys. But what about the others without visible suspender straps? Two
possibilities occur to me. Pehaps they wear Leibchen underneath their
white T shirts, or maybe the same kind of suspender waist with the
straps worn beneath rather than over their shirts. Most of these boys
seem to be about twelve or thirteen years old. Some older German boys
did wear front-buttoning Leibchen for long stockings, but we know that
other boys, especially teenagers, resorted to more grown-up garter
belts or, alternatively, "Tragbunden," the German term for suspender
waists. "
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main German sports club page ]
[Return to the Main German country sports uniform page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]