‘All Must Remove Their Hats’ The Requirement to Remove One’s Hat in the Presence of Germans in Warsaw

The requirement to remove one's hat upon encountering a German was one of many decrees imposed on the Jews under Nazi occupation – particularly in Poland and Eastern Europe – and is described at length in accounts written during and after the Holocaust. This article analyzes the daily implications of this decree from the perspective of the Jews of Warsaw, from the early days of Nazi occupation until the mass deportation to the Treblinka death camp in the summer of 1942. It seeks to demonstrate how the Jews' responses to this specific decree reflect the extreme changes in their lives. Though a requirement such as removing one's hat may seem insignificant in the context of those times, it was, in fact, quite meaningful and symbolic: It represented both the humiliation and persecution of the Jews inflicted by the Germans, as evidenced by the decree's frequent mention in Jewish accounts and testimonies despite its seemingly trivial nature. This narrative thus offers a new and unique perspective that helps form a more complete understanding of the fate of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.