The Waffen-SS were the elite of the German Wehrmacht during WW2, with each man being chosen for his physical fitness, mental and physical toughness, fighting spirit, and ardent National Socialist ideals. As the legendary Dick Winters once said in an interview, those Waffen-SS were "some hard nosed soldiers". The Waffen-SS was usually deployed where the fighting was fiercest and the danger greatest, from Italy to Southern Russia, and from Normandy to Holland. After their stunning victories of 1940, German recruitment of foreign volunteers for the Waffen-SS began as Hitler struck east and attacked Russia in Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. A few years later, in 1943, the program was expanded, and a Waffen-SS detachment composed of Muslims from Bosnia, Croatia, and Herzegovina was formed in occupied Yugoslavia to combat Tito’s partisans. Through recruitment and conscription, the unit numbered 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. They wore felt caps unique to their detachment; a gray fez for combat areas, and a red fez for dress occasions. The fez was only issued to this Waffen-SS Muslim Volunteer unit, as its brimless design facilitated the Muslim requirement to touch one’s forehead to the ground during the 5 times daily prayer that Islam expects of its adherents. Most original, nearly unissued examples such as this were acquired by US Army troopers near Dachau at the end of the war. This German WW2 Waffen-SS Badged Muslim Volunteer Red Felt Dress Cap Fez is in Excellent Condition, with only some light scattered spot mothing and age wear evident. Most interestingly, it’s lightly stamped a Size “57” in white at the interior lower back crown, boasts the original, sinister Waffen-SS German national eagle and “death’s head” bevo woven insignia sewn at the front crown, and sports the original, matching red wool felt long tassel holder with black tassels at top (many of which are sewn down to the upper back right crown). It features the original sewn light brown leather sweatband, and is a beautiful example of a very rare, original German WW2 Waffen-SS Badged Muslim Volunteer Red Felt Dress Cap Fez.