1918 German School Photo

1918 German School Photo
Many years ago I ran into some class pictures of my grade school class at a flea market and ever since I have found class pictures to be an interesting reflection of their times. Sorting through some family pictures I found this 1918 School photo from Dusseldorf, Germany. I say school since the age range of the children must have been more than just one class. The picture is described as “leaf collecting”. I am not sure as to why leaves were being collected. Were they edible or just for cooking fires ? By this time due to the privations of WWI the population was suffering from malnutrition and disease. The kids in the photo reflect that situation and are wearing old hand-me-down clothes including a lot of old military uniform parts and enough military hats to make a collector drool.