Hitler Youth Uniforms: Hosiery

Figure 1.--Most photographs of HJ boys show them wearing knee socks. Sometimes during the summer the boys have rolled down their knee socks, but knee socks were the standard hosiery.

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.

Knee Socks

Most images of the Hitler Youth show Hitler Youth boys wearing knee socks. 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. Boys did not normally wear patterned knee socks with their uniforms. We see very few examples of this. Some boys wore white knee socks, nut mostly for for dress occassions. We see boys wearing knee socks in different ways. Many boys during the Summer folded down their knee socks. We are not sure why they did this. Perhaps comfort in the warm weather was a factor. Quite a number of boys had hand knitted wool socks, which would have been scratchy and uncomfortable in hot weather. Fashion may also have been a factor. We suspect that some boys liked the look. I am not entirely sure why. We also see boys wearing knee socks with heavy ankle socks. We believe that this was popular for hiking.

Figure 2.-We see some boys, mostly DJ boys, wearing long stockings with their uniforms, but it was not very common. Note that this boy does not wear the uniform shirt and cthis is a family snapshot.

Long Stockings

A few boys wore long stockings with there Hitler Youth uniform, but this was not very common. Long stockings were very common for German boys during the 1930s and 40s and even into the 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. We do see some individual exceptions, presumably mothers that were concerned that their boys dress warmly. Much rarer are whole units wearing long stokings. We do see a few examples in the photographic record, but not very many. Almost always they were dark colored stockings, but the precise color is difficlt to discern. While boys sometimes wore white knee socks with their uniforms, especially for formal occassions, we never see boys wearing white long stockings with their uniforms.

Figure 3.--These HJ boys at camp are wearing knee socks, but they have rolled them down so they look like ankle socks. Notice that all the boys have done this. So the decision was taken by the unit leaser. /i>

Ankle Socks

Some boys wore ankle socks with their Hitler youth uniforms, but this was not as common. Few boys wore ankle socks, but quite a number of boys seem to hve rolled down their knee socks so they looked like ankled socks. It is a little difficult to be sure in available snapshots, but this looks to be the case. There seem to be more HJ boys wearing ankle socks than was the case in the general population. We also see boys wearing ankle socks over their knee socks (never the other way around). Ankle socks were, however not very common in Germany during the 1930s and early 40s. They seem to be mostly grey ankle socks, but this is a little difficult to tell with the black and white photography. They were always plain socks, never ankle socks with stipes and other patterns. We do not see these until after the War.

Barefeet

HJ boys and BDM girls generally do not appear in barefeet. This was something you saw in the difficult years after World War I. In Germany it was a sign of poverty and thus rarely seen once the country began to recover from the War. And of course the HJ which was a kind of a symbol for the New Germany did not want the boys appearing un barefeet. Just as parents did not want o give the impression of poverty, the HJ was also concerned about the public images of its boys. This was the same for all other youth groups as barefeet were such a universal symbol of poverty throughout Germany. There were some exceptgions. Boys at the beach or participating in boating activities ae often seen in brefeet. The same is true for Marine HJ boys while engage in certain ctivities aboard ship like swabing the deck. Another exception is boys in camps, although even here they usually wore some sort of shoes, almost always with some kind of hosiery. At camp where the boys were not on display to the general public we sometimes see the boys barefoot for some games or even marching about, although marching barefoot was not common.