Toys and games from 1930 to 1950
Introduction
Our contemporary witness cabinet of the Dresden Senior Academy was
founded in 1996 by Ms Edelgart Geiger. Our group members were -and
still are- experienced people from the ages of 69 to 85. With their
knowledge -and especially their memories- they have been providing
topics of conversation for 13 years and composed over 170 reports about
events and developmental trends in politics, culture, education and
welfare they experienced.
We often have discussion in order to initiate activities. Last year,
during one of them, Ms Stephan suggested recalling what we played with
in our childhood. This suggestion was approved of as the recreational
activities of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are criticized
frequently by the group.
The project's aim
But the only aim of our effort could be to verbally gather and roughly
describe the toys and games of our childhood without attaching
pedagogical value. We were aware of renowned educationalists, e.g.
Pestalozzi and Fröbel, having done pioneer work in this field already
200 years ago. We could not outdo them and other experts of education
and child psychology. We also wanted to limit ourselves to the time
span of conscious playing during childhood and distinguish this from
reactions of infants and the playing pattern of youngsters.
Methodology
The methodology called for a thorough discussion. Up until now every
group member had written down his/her personal memory without any
restrictions concerning content or form. It would not have been a
problem to apply this method typically used by contemporary witnesses
to the topic of "child toys". But then it would have been interesting
for the respective families only. But we wanted to leave general
statements about the past for the ensuing ages- respectively the town
archive. From the point of view of us 10 members it was questionable
whether and how we could describe the typical play of the children from
the 60ties to the 80ties. This goal could only be approached
collectively. Being cautious, none of us used the term "confidence
level". Of course we also discussed the ifs and buts of a wide spread
use and application. A publication for the latter born would call for a
revision regarding pedagogical and psychological aspects, detailed
descriptions and good picture usage. This would overstrain our group
content-wise, technically and financially.
Course of action
We decided to take the following course of action:
To establish a brad basis we also included our knowledge about the toys
and games of school friends, children from the neighborhood and
relatives into our collected accounts. We also had to consider a series
of methodological specifics.
Those were:
- Parents always -amongst others for financial reasons- adapted the toys to age-related requirements of the child.
For the purpose of our research we distinguished three age groups:
- Pre-school age
- 6 to 10 years
- 10 to 14 years
In our opinion, this age group represents the typical age-related
playing pattern of children. The age boundaries are of course blurred.
Only one toy seemed to not be age-related: the ball, but only few children had one made out of leather.
- Children were supposed to get accustomed to their future role
in the family at an early age. Accordingly, there was -and is until the
present- toys for boys and toys for girls.
- Also reflected in the playing pattern, especially in the early
years, were the different outlooks on profession and possibilities of
the town and the country (further division e.g. into city center and
periphery could be made - The purchased toys of our childhood also were
linked to industrial progress and political dictates, but we abandon
that option).
- The accumulation of expensive toys then already was related to the
parents' income and their valuation of them. Not many parents were
aware of the role of playing as the first activity of humans, not even
all wealthy parents were.
We started out with the individual collection of facts,
categorized according to age and sex and supplemented the individual
contributions during group discussions. Two group members, Ms Stephan
and Ms Scherf, who took notes, did the analysis and the summary. The
above mentioned specifics have been considered when possible.
Discussions
In our discussions essential differences came up of toys and games of now and then.
- In our childhood toys belonged to the category of presents- as did
clothes, sports goods and sweets. Presents were nearly exclusively for
Christmas and birthdays and always few and simple.
(I claim that less was more!)
- Toys were not only bought but also self-made by the family.
Older children also were involved in creating toys for younger siblings. Self-made toys were highly valuated by the family.
During the war years most of the toys had to be self-made due to
shortages in stores. The "Jungvolk" and "Jungmädel" (the contemporary
divisions of the Hitler Youth) organized the production of toys for the
smaller local children.
- Especially in the country, the extended family, the grand-fathers
and grand-mothers, taught their grandchildren how to use tools
appropriately and how to knit and crochet. But the parents also played
with their children, especially on the evenings in the winter (there
was no TV to keep them from doing it).
- As long as the weather permitted it the children played outside.
Due to the great number of children they also were rarely alone, the
younger children learned from the older ones.
The playing was mostly tied to physical activity. Fitness was an important feature of power of sustenance for a person.
The time devoted to physically active playing was much more than it is for our great-grandchildren.
- Children did not only get new toys. They also got restored and
revamped toys that had already been used by themselves or older
siblings. Some of the long-lasting toys like rocking horses or dolls
were in use through several generations.
- Especially in the country children used random materials as toys (e.g. pebbles, grass and straw).
- The older children were introduced to their future occupations
playfully and were allowed to take on an active role when possible.
Whenever the mother was not at home the oldest daughter took over her
position.
Our toys at pre-school age
During our pre-school age from 1930 to 1950 the toys basically did
change only regarding the design, respectively in form and color. The
pedagogical intention did not change. They served the description of
pictures and items, their categorization and whereabouts and the
exercise of patience and skills and the preparation for school.
Even for the pre-school aged there were toys for boys and for girls.
Typically for girls were: dolls, doll houses and doll's pram
and for boys: horse and wagon, logs and -for cuddling- teddy bears.
On the playground outside- most times the yard- boys and girl of that
aged often played together. They played: hide and seek, I spy, made
soap-bubbles or played with a spinning top or marbles. They played in
the sandbox if available.
First self created toys
Already aged two or three children searched their special toys. They were kitchen equipment and mother's box of buttons.
Boys and girls alike enjoyed pushing a bicycle rim with a stick or
pushing and directing the wheel of a stroller (pushed with a rod
fastened with a nail).
Such self created toys were more popular than figurines (animals and
soldiers) that could only stand around but not handed easily. Even in
later years we were not able to get much fun out of e.g. an expensive
castle.
It should be notified that children also liked to play in forbidden
places: at the village spring, with "boats" from wood or paper or on
the streets with a scooter, a trolley or a toboggan.
Inside, they started out with simple board games like ludo or card games like colored Peter or played shops.
Equality ended when house was played. The boys always played the fathers and the girls the mothers.
Typical toys and games for the ages of 6 to 10
Similar to how it is today, at this age the circumstances for playing change.
- School took away free time but at the same time offered new ways of
playing. Older kids played "school" with younger siblings, they read to
them school book texts or the texts from picture books and calculated
the sums of dices and playing cards.
In war times the time taken up by school got less due to shortage of
available teachers. Teachers usually were male and they were needed by
the German military.
- Children were integrated into collecting activities early during
the war. We collected secondary materials and medicinal herbs and
competed with each other.
- Children had to carry out small household tasks.
They ran small errands and did some shopping, took care of small
animals, cleaning the family's shoes and supervised younger siblings
for a short period of time.
New possibilities for instructional playing
From the early 30ties on it was made possible by technical development.
- In the early 30ties boys especially approved of construction kits
with metallic materials (Märklin and Trixi). It contained a reduced set
for metal construction: flat bar, angle iron, discs, axes, wheels and
screws enabled the use of screwdrivers and screw-wrenches.
- For girls there were knitting dolls, stitching sets, mosaic sets
and dolls for diaper changing that helped gaining practice in
childcare.
- For family activities there were printed model sheets that were
used for handicraft works with scissors and glue to make houses,
lanterns and window decoration for Christmas.
- With hand puppets and a covered table a puppet theater was set up
and joining their parents children turned to more complex board games
like checkers, nine men's morris and halma.
Political influence on playing
In the mid-30ties the political influence on child's play increased.
Girls playing with dolls totally agreed with their political outlook as
they should become hard-working German mothers and German wives behind
a German oven. But the boys were needed as brave soldiers by the great
Fuehrer. Thus, political toys were supposed to support education in
school and later engagement in the Hitler Youth.
The kind of toys were: soldiers, sabers, cork riffles, guns, tanks with
rubber chains, bomber and . . . as well as the ambulance bag.
At the beginning of the war there were magazines that informed about
the heroes of the war with text and pictures. Names like Prien, Rudels
and Mölders were well known by the school children and war reporters
also wrote first-hand reports for children.
Self- made toys
In the group aged 6 to 10 years with the assistance of a pocket knife
it was created: spear, arrow and bow, kites or darts with whips.
In spring time we carved pipes out of lush branches of ash trees and
the most skillful of us even made small flutes. The musically talented
could soon play "Hänschen klein" on a harmonica or recorder.
During breaks, on the schoolyard nice active games were played.
Among those were:
- Fox in the cave- one child was the fox. When he was provoked he jumped up on one leg. Who got touched by him was the next fox.
- Snatch- one child was snatch man and the one first touched by him had to snatch.
- In the winter there were snowball fights.
Toys and games in the group aged 10 to 14 years
Playing during WWII was influenced by it like no other generation had experienced it.
- The fathers and brothers of many children were at the front or
already killed in action. Many of these children had to assist their
mothers to take care of the family.
In the GDR children of farmers and peasants counted as half a worker.
Children of expellee families had to help their families to get e.g. clothes and shoes.
Many girls had to take care of their younger siblings when their mothers were not home (from 1942 they were forced to work).
In the years after the war children had to work on the fields.
- Those born before 1935 became members of the "Jungmädels"
respectively "Jungvolkes" according to the law of the Hitler Youth.
Participation in these events was mandatory and restricted normal
playing.
But: especially those children who had to fulfill many duties at home
enjoyed their service on Wednesday afternoon as it released them from
household chores for a couple of hours.
- Many national political tasks were incumbent on the older children.
Furnished with a trolley, they collected secondary materials including
old coppers and ploughs. In the winter of 1941/42 they collected woolen
clothes for the German military, they visited and sang for the wounded
in the sick bay and collected medicinal herbs, they were also used for
the collecting activities of the winter relief organization and had to
participate in clearing the streets from the snow in the winter.
- Influenced by the propaganda and the education of the divisions of
the Hitler Youth and school, the children's interest, especially those
aged 10 to 14 year, was channeled to the military sector. A "real boy"
had to be able to march lock-step, to handle an air rifle and to draw a
sketch of an area.
The government'The older children's playings military interests were
also incorporated into the children's complex games. In the Jungvolk,
for example model making was used to initiate interest in aircrafts or
the marine. At the age of 15 these model builders could join the flyer
HJ or the marine HJ. Those already familiar with the morse alphabet had
a headstart into a military career.
The older children's playing
Despite their numerous duties the older children also played. Boys
continued playing with their metal construction kit and if they got
lucky they got an additional set with an electric motor. The girls
participated in the needlework group and produced socks and muffs for
themselves or for army postal service packages for their father or
brother.
The children aged 10 to 14 years developed a great interest in making
toys or articles of daily use by themselves. Downright trends were
produced in the places:
- Stilts (two logs were nailed to wooden bars at 30 to 50 centimeter
height in order to be able to climb on them). Using stilts demanded
great body control and was fun.
- Water wheels that were put into operation in the stream
- Kites from wooden bars and painted packing paper
- Self-constructed models of planes and ships were built, a coping
saw, sandpaper, glue and pain were used to built wooden toys and room
decorations
- A catapult consisted of a crotch and the gasket of a preserving
glass. Especially in the country "racing cars" were built from axes and
wheels of prams and could be completed in the course of time.
- Clothes for dolls, crocheted or tailored on mommy's sewing machine,
window stars from paper or decoration for the Christmas tree from straw
were made.
During recess
The Jungvolk respectively the Jungmädels played:
- Dodge ball- two teams try to hit each other with the ball. If someone gets hit and does fail to catch the ball gets eliminated.
- Paper chase one group leaves behind clues for the second group that tries to catch them.
- Ham tapping- one boy is the (blind) ham and when he stoops someone
of the group taps him. If the ham guesses correctly who tapped him the
person gets to be the next ham.
- Soccer or handball
- Shooting with the air rifle at a target or into a tin can
- Making music with the marching band or other instruments on "homeland afternoons"
Playing with parents and friends
The older children joined the parents for popular board games
Town- and country guessing had an educational effect (town and country
names starting with a particular letter of the alphabet had to be
thought of)
The same effect had travel games played with a map (a route had to be figured out for a particular travel destination).
We followed fox tracks in the snow with friends or built a snowman or a snow cave.
We also competed in shooting at targets with a bow or catapult and performed gymnastic exercises and chin-ups on a carpet rail.
Playing with an electric train was exiting, not many children had one.
In the group aged 10 to 14 years boys and girls again played together.
Because of the common service in the Jungvolk and Jungmädels, children
from diverse social backgrounds got together to play in their free
time. In the Hitler Youth achievement was more important than origin.
Dangerous and degenerated forms of playing
The Nazi education combined with natural liking for adventures led to a
dangerous outcome, especially at the end of the war. It was 13 and 14
years old boys that got "promoted" to "Volkssturmmann" because of a
signature from boys of the Volksjungen, it would be especially older
boys that ignored the warnings and prohibition and collected and opened
unexploded ordnance devices and tried out hand grenades.
It was those boys, who got sent to prison for illegal possession of guns eight years later.
The Nazis' multiply channeled political influence had led to some
negative reactions of the children. Myself, born in 1931, have been in
the middle of the dangerous tank.
Today I am proud of having assisted in banishing the spirit of German
fascism from people's minds, also for the peaceful playing of our
children.
