History

In 1943, an SS Fez was introduced into the supply chain and was issued to units that were composed of specific ethnic groups from Eastern Europe. These were the 13th Waffen-SS Mountain Division "Handschar" and 23rd Waffen-SS Mountain Division "Kama".

Previous to the official introduction of an SS Fez, the men of these ethnic units wore locally produced fezes.

There were two types of fez, the first had a distinctive conical shape and did not have a tassel attached to the top. The second type was cylindrical and featured a tassel.

The fezes featured the standard two-part skull and eagle insignia on the front of the cap.

The fez was manufactured in two colours, field-grey and maroon. The field-grey fez was for wear with the service uniform and the maroon fez was to be worn with parade and dress uniform.

A large supply of both the grey and maroon fezzes was found at the Dachau SS Clothing Depot.