Buchenwald Survivors (1)

A number of readers of this blog suggested to write about the 'berets' worn by prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps. I always thought these hats had no place on this blog, but maybe they do...
Why on earth the Nazi's chose a hat that resembles so strongly a symbol of the French, I don't know; it was most likely the simple manufacturing and cost effectiveness more than anything else. 
But yes, they are a kind of beret and over the next few days I'll post a week-long series of berets related to Buchenwald - most pictures and data coming from the United States Holocaust Museum. The first one , the Nazi version of a beret, comes from the National D-Day Memorial though:

David Daniel Gary was held as a French political prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp. Nazi authorities seemed unaware of his Jewish heritage. His father died in Auschwitz. The Gary collection includes photos of the Holocaust along with photos of the victory celebrations and of comrades in the Resistance. The collection includes his prison camp beret and his FFI jacket. His story chronicles the Holocaust and one family's fight for freedom.