The pictures and videos on the following pages are dedicated to the special German shorts, which were simply called lederhosen at the time. My material is a tribute to this everyday garment, which was worn by both boys and girls in the twenty years after the Second World War. Leather pants represent one of the earliest examples of unisex clothing.
Singularities like short lederhosen, undoubtedly a genuine German invention, whose use remained largely confined to Germany, mark turning points in the novels SNAKIE – DIANA and SNAKIE – BILLY. They give the bearers friendships, make them break or help to putty them again. In the fifties and sixties of the last century, when urban agglomerations were not as crowded as today and youth was largely unencumbered and not distracted by technical stuff, these sturdy pants played their trump cards at school as well as at games and fun outdooprs. Anyone who didn't wear leather pants wasn't socially acceptable like someone today who doesn't wear blue jeans.
The clips (page 1 to 4) offer original text examples in German, as the books are not translated into English. The content mainly refers to leather shorts. Nowadays, wearing this typical German garment is as old-fashioned among children and young people as playing the recorder. In my novels, short lederhosen are a metonymy for another German invention: the Blue Flower, symbol of Romanticism in art and literature. Where it blooms, intense feelings of friendship, love and hate are generated.
A small selection (Leather Pants of Diana, Jig and Quee) is available in English on page 4. All clips have recently been revised. They are now complete again, 05 to 30 in German, 31 to 42 in English. They are intended for all interested friends and visitors who, for whatever reason, prefer a short visual presentation instead of dealing with a long novel.
The enormous interest in this topic has surprised me. Since 2011, the clips have been viewed more than 300,000 times on various video platforms.
Perhaps the symbol of short lederhosen still stands for a certain fairness that could be trusted seventy years ago after the terrible times of the Second World War. I remember a remark of my biology teacher that seemed rather daring to me: "Villains do not wear short leather pants. Like their bare legs, they hide their dark thoughts."
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