Waffen SS green fez given to a US officer by his soldiers after the liberation of Dachau concentration camp

Green/field gray fez with a swastika and Death's head given to Byron Lee Schatzley, an officer in the United States Army, in May 1945 by ground troops following the April 29 liberation of Dachau concentration camp in Germany. The green fez was part of the combat uniform of a Waffen-SS military detachment composed of Muslims from Bosnia, Croatia, and Herzegovina in occupied Yugoslavia, with one division from Albania. There was a red fez for the dress uniform. 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.