Waffen-SS Muslim red fez found by a US soldier at Ohrdruf concentration camp

James Howard Edwards served in the United States Army, European Theater, during World War II. He entered Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany following its liberation in 1945. Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, was the first concentration camp liberated by the U.S. Army. No restrictions on access Red fez with a swastika and Death's head found by James Howard Edwards, a US army soldier, in Ohrdruf concentration camp, following the liberation of the camp by the United States Army on April 29, 1945. He found the fez in the commandant’s barracks. The red fez was part of the dress uniform of a Waffen-SS military detachment composed of Muslims from Bosnia, Croatia, and Herzegovina in occupied Yugoslavia. There was a field gray one for combat. The creation of this unit was authorized by Hitler in 1943. The original purpose was to combat Tito’s partisans. Through recruitment and conscription, the unit had 26,000 soldiers within a few months. The group was commanded by German or ethnic German officers, and the uniforms were designed to reflect the religion/ethnicity of the recruits.