Figure 1.-- Many images archived on HBC are interesting, but some are especially poignent. It is often not exactly clear to me just why some of these images are especially powerful images. The snapshot here is one of those images. I think it captures the atmosphere of a German middle-class family.

Here we see a German boy at home with his father during the late 1920s or early 30s. We are not at all sure about the radiator in the rear. The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit, a very popular style in Germany at the time. Note how the boy's sailor scarfe is tied. This tight tie and white string was the most common approach. Many images archived on HBC are interesting, but some are especially poignent. It is often not exactly clear to me just why some of these images are especially powerful images. The snapshot here is one of those images. I think it captures the atmosphere of a German middle-class family.

The Family

Here we see a German boy at home with his father. They seem to be reading a magazine. The father seems to be a moderately prosperous middle-class individual. This is reflected by his suit and confortable if not overly prosperous living room. His son's sailor suit is another middle-class indicator. Body language is an interesting indicator in these old photographs. Here we seem to see a very close relationship between the boy and his father who looks to have had children as a middle-age man.

The Boy

The snap shot seems to suggest that the boy was an only and very much loved child. He looks about 8 or 9 years old.

Living Room

This is a fascinating glimse of the inside of a German home at the time. We are not at all sure about the radiator in the rear. There seems to be some kind of cabinent sent right in the middle of the radiator. We are not sure what was placed there.

Chronology

The snapshot is undated, but was probably taken during the late 1920s or early 30s.

Clothing

The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit, a very popular style in Germany at the time. Note how the boy's sailor scarfe is tied. This tight tie and white string was the most common approach. A reader writes, "One point worth noticing is the departure from the usual black long stockings so common in the 1910s and early 20s. Here the boy is wearing the new tan or light brown stockings with his short pants sailor suit. Since the fashion for lighter colored stockings seems to have taken hold in the 1920s, it would be interesting to know whether this photo dates from the earlier or later part of the decade."

The NAZIs

Many images archived on HBC are interesting, but some are especially poignent. It is often not exactly clear to me just why some of these images are especially powerful images. The snapshot here is one of those images. I think it captures the atmosphere of a German middle-class family. A devoted father and a loving son, undoubtedly brought up with manners and a respect for other people. The reason that theimage is so poignent, is unlike the boy and his father, we know what it is their future. The one thought that predominates in my mind is that Hitler knew that many German parents did not agree with him and his New Order. While he did not think that he could ever convince many of these doubters, he was convinced that he could capture many of their children. And the distressing aspect of this was that he was correct. The Hitler Youth had many of the superficial approaches of Scouting, but in one fundamental aspect it was very different. Scouting was designed to support the family. Most Scout leaders were in fact parents drawn into Scouting because of the thrir children. The Hitler Youth movement was very different. Rather than designed to strengthen the family and family values, the Hitler Youth movement was designed to break those ties as well as ties with churches to prepare boys for the NAZI New Order. And given this boy's age and the time the snap shot was taken, we know this boy would have joined the Hitler Youth and the German World War II military. Just how he was affected and what happened to him and his father we do not know. A readercwrites, "Yes, I thought also of this boy's future, his probable enrollment in the HJ, and possibly his death or capture in World War II. Very moving, especially since the loving relationship between father and son marks such a contrast to the political violence that followed. The boy looks to me to be about 8 years old. If the picture was taken in 1929 or 1930, the boy would have been about 17 or 18 in 1939. A poignant glimpse into the future here."

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Created: 5:06 PM 3/16/2006
Last updated: 11:17 PM 3/16/2006