Hitler Youth Uniforms: Hosiery

Figure 1.--HJ boys commonly wore knee socks with their uniforms. Notice how the HJ boy here has folded down his knee socks. We note many examples of this in the photographic record.

Most images of the Hitler Youth show Hitler Youth boys wearing kneesocks. Most boys seem to be wearing grey knee socks, although it is a bit difficult to tell with the black and white photography of the day. We are not sure why brown or black knee socks were not chosen to match the uniform. Perhaps grey knee socks were more common at the time. Some boys wore white knee socks for dress occassions. We do notice a variety of hosiery. I am not sure what the official regulation was. While the HJ was often strict about uniform, there seems to have been a toleration of some variety in both hosiery and footwear. A few boys wore long stockings, but this was not very common. Long stockings were very common for German boys during the 1940s and 50s, especially during the Winter. They became less common after about age 12. The age factor and the fact that the Winter uniform had long knickers, few Hitler Youth boys wore long stockings. Some boys wore ankle socks, but this was not as common. Few boys wore ankle socks, but quite a number if boys rolled down their knee socks so they looked like ankled socks. Notice how the HJ boy here has folded over his socks.

Uniform Regulations

I am not sure what the official regulations concerning hosiery were. We assume that the HJ organization published regulations that governed uniforms and other aspects of the movement. We have, however, not yet found such a publication. While the HJ was often strict about uniform, there seems to have been a toleration of some variety in both hosiery and footwear, especially when the boys were not involved in formal events.

Hosiery Types

We do notice HJ boys waring a variety of hosiery. Unlike other elements of the uniform, considerale cariety seems to have been permitted for hosiery. We see DJ and HJ boys wearing ankle socks, knee socks, and long stockings. The nost common tyle of hosiery was knee socks. This is very evident in the photographic record. We think grey knee socks were the ost common. Long stockings and ankle socks were also worn, but much less commonly. There seems to have been some variation in color, but this is difficult go discern in black-and-white photograpy. One defenite convention was that only plain hose were worn, we never see socks done in patterns.

Double Socks

We see many HJ boys wearing double socks, commonly knee socks under heavy ankle socks. We are not sure why so many boys wore these double socks. It was much less common with the BDM girls. They might have been worn for warmth. It might also have been worn for hilking. We notice Boy Scouts hiking with double socks.

Color

Age

The affected hosiery to an extent. Boys of all ages wore both knee socks and ankle socks, often on a seasonal basis. Germn children joined the HJ at age 10 years so the yiunger boys woud have been 10-year olds. We see the boys during warm summer weather wearing ankle socks or rolling their knee socks down. While younger boys might wear knee socks and ankle socks, we also see them wearing long stockings up to about 12-13 years of age. This was also about the age tha boys made the transition from the DJ to the HJ proper. We rarely see boys more than about 13 years of age wearing long stockings. This vried from family to family. Different mothers had differing ideas about the age appropriateness of long stockings. Here the major concern was warmth for the yunger boys during the winter. As is the case generally, mothers are most concened about dressing the younger children warmly. Long stockings were also worn for formality, at least when dressing up in a suit for various occassions. As far as we know this was not the case for the Hitler youth. The boys wore knee socks for formality, in some cases white knee socks.

Seasonality

Gender

Girls like the boys wore a variety of hosiery with their HJ uniforms. White knee socks were especially common with the girls. Boys wore white knee socks alsp, but mostly for special occassions when dressing up.