Figure 1.-- Here we see a German boy prepared for his first day of school during the 1930s. Note the school goodies cone. Most primary-age boy wore short pants in the 1930s. The boy here seems o be wearing a vest rather than a jacket.

German boys continued to commonly wear short pants. Most boys in primary school wore shorts. Many boys continued to wear short pants until their mid-teens. This varied somewhat from family to family. Most boys wore shorts year round, even in the cold weather. We do note some boys wearing knickers during the cold wesather, especially by the late 30s. Some teenagers wore knickers for a few years before beginning to wear long pants. We notice a typical German schoolboy in 1931 wearing a sweater, short pants, and long black stockings. Notice that these short pants are more or less the same length as the old-fashioned knee pants, but more informal and without the ornamental buttons. Short pants were worn in Germany with both knee socks and long stockings. A 1937 photo shows a German gymnasium (secondary school) with boys wearing both kinds of hosiery with their shorts. Note that many of these boys are wearing the quasi-military Hitler youth accoutrements with their school clothes. School portraits are probably the best source of information as to what boys actually wore in any given period. A good example is a primary school. All the boys wear short pants but some with long stockings and some with bare knees and (probably) knee socks. More boys are wearing kneesocks, but we see many boys wearing long stockings, especially during the winter. Black long stockings are still being worn but the newer brown stockings seem to predominate. Most of the boys wear some sort of sweater or jacket but without necktie.