{"id":426766,"date":"2025-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=426766"},"modified":"2025-04-26T18:39:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T18:39:51","slug":"hitlers-hat-finds-a-home-at-ny-state-military-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=426766","title":{"rendered":"Hitler’s Hat finds a home at NY State Military Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n New York State Military Museum Director Courtney Burns, second from left, discusses artifacts with the Marowitz family members, from left, Linda, Roberta and Larry, during the museum unveiling of a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of their father, Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Concentration Camp Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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\n The New York State Military Museum unveils a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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\n The New York State Military Museum unveils a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945. In this unit photo, Marowitz displays Hitler’s Hat during occupation duties in Austria in May 1945.
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\n New York State Military Museum Director Courtney Burns, second from left, speaks with the Marowitz family members, from left, Linda, Larry and Roberta, during the museum unveiling of a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of their father, Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Concentration Camp Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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\n WNYT news reporter Mark Mulholland, at top right, speaks with the Marowitz family members, from left, Linda, Larry and Roberta, during the New York State Military Museum unveiling of a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of their father, Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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\n Larry Marowitz, right, son of World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, speaks with WNYT news reporter Mark Mulholland during the New York State Military Museum unveiling of a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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\n The New York State Military Museum unveils a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior to the Second World War. The hat, and other artifacts, were presented by the family of World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, who was present at the Dachau liberation with the 42nd Infantry Division and secured the Nazi clothing memorabilia the following day during his unit\u2019s capture of Munich on April 30, 1945.
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Adolph Hitler\u2019s top hat has a new home at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.<\/p>\n

The hat was \u201cliberated\u201d from the Nazi dictator\u2019s Munich apartment by a 19-year-old Jewish Soldier from Brooklyn on April 30, 1945.<\/p>\n

Eighty years later, the hat found by Private 1st Class Richard Marowitz, a regimental recon Soldier in the 42nd Infantry Division, as the Third Reich collapsed, was donated to the museum by his children, Larry, Linda and Roberta.<\/p>\n

Hitler\u2019s hat will be displayed as part of the museum\u2019s 80th commemoration of the actions of the 42nd Infantry Division in liberating the Dachau Concentration Camp and the end of the Holocaust in WWII.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that the New York State Military Museum has the exhibit,\u201d Larry Marowitz said during an April 24 ceremony. \u201cThere\u2019s a story to be told. It is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look for artifacts that tell the story of New York veterans, and this collection from the Marowitz family is a compelling narrative that we\u2019re honored to display,\u201d said Courtney Burns, the director of history for the New York National Guard.<\/p>\n

The 42nd Infantry Division has been a part of the New York Army National Guard since 1947.<\/p>\n

Marowitz, who died in 2014, had been among the first liberators to arrive at the Dachau Concentration Camp in southern Germany on April 29, 1945.<\/p>\n

The 42nd was one of three Army divisions to free 33,000 prisoners during its advance to capture Munich, 10 miles away.<\/p>\n

In Munich early on April 30, Marowitz and a dozen reconnaissance Soldiers arrived at Hitler\u2019s Munich apartment to search any papers of intelligence significance.<\/p>\n

While looking in a bedroom closet, Marowitz discovered a box on an upper shelf. Climbing up, he found a top hat with the initials \u201cA.H.\u201d in the hat lining.<\/p>\n

Imagining the Nazi leader\u2019s head still inside the hat, he tossed it to the floor and stomped on it.<\/p>\n

Later that day, with Russian forces approaching the center of Berlin, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he heard some skinny Jewish kid stomped all over his favorite hat, he committed suicide,\u201d Marowitz joked to the Associated Press for a news article in 2001.<\/p>\n

The war souvenir stayed with Marowitz during post-war occupation duties in Austria before returning to New York.<\/p>\n

For the next 50 years, Hitler\u2019s hat remained at the bottom of a duffel bag in Albany, New York. The hat became a prop for the magic tricks at children\u2019s birthday parties.<\/p>\n

For most of their lives, the Marowitz children, didn\u2019t know of the hat\u2019s unique history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hat was in the basement, with all my father\u2019s magic tricks. We had no idea it was there for all those years,\u201d explained Larry Marowitz.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned the story of Hitler\u2019s Hat because my father belonged to the Jewish War Veterans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had gone to a meeting and they had asked people to bring any souvenirs that they may have picked up. So, my father brought Hitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d Larry Marowitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Soldiers came back from the war and never spoke about it again, and my father never really did either,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until he went to a 42nd Rainbow Division Reunion and he met up with all his comrades that they all started talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, Marowitz joined with fellow Albany area WWII veterans to speak about the Holocaust and their wartime experience with middle and high school students.<\/p>\n

The hat would be brought out in a plain shopping bag for students to see and touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce word got out, it just took off. It really went national and went all over the world,\u201d Larry Marowitz said.<\/p>\n

Discovered by documentary film maker Jeff Krulik, the story of Marowitz and the veterans of the Rainbow Division were featured in the film \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat\u201d that premiered in January 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may not be a pretty sight, but that tiny piece of history holds many memories for those of us who were there for the Taking of the Top Hat,\u201d Marowitz wrote in 1995.<\/p>\n

The New York State Military Museum, administered by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs tells the story of New Yorkers involvement in American Wars from the Revolutionary War to the present day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 7 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 New York State Military Museum Director Courtney Burns, second from left, discusses artifacts with the Marowitz family members, from left, Linda, Roberta and Larry, during the museum unveiling of a new temporary exhibit for the display of \u201cHitler\u2019s Hat,\u201d once worn by the Reich Chancellor prior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426768,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=426766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426776,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426766\/revisions\/426776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/426768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=426766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=426766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=426766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}