Toys
The children of Paris were not spared the effects of the war. The entire world of young French citizens was permeated by the conflict, and patriotic overtones suffused school notebooks and paper products, literature, coloring books and even games and toys. The covers of the big department stores’ seasonal gift catalogues were illustrated with war games that young Parisians could play in the streets, promoting Alsatian dolls, lead soldiers, miniature artillery guns, displays of soldiers and nurses and toy guns. As a full-fledged consumer, it was a French child’s duty to support the new national toy industry against the German competition, which dominated the toy market until the war. “Boches” (“Kraut”) toys were banned. In fact, children were making a two-fold contribution to the war effort because some toy manufacturers employed retrained disabled soldiers.
