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Raised in Brooklyn, WWII vet who found Hitler’s top hat dies at 88

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World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, who found Adolf Hitler’s top hat, died Wednesday. He was 88.
World War II veteran Richard Marowitz, who found Adolf Hitler’s top hat, died Wednesday. He was 88.

ALBANY— Richard Marowitz was just a day removed from witnessing the horrors of Dachau when he found a top hat on a shelf in a closet in Adolf Hitler’s Munich apartment.

Still furious over the gruesome sights he had seen at the nearby Nazi concentration camp, the 19-year-old self-described “skinny Jewish kid” from New York threw the black silk hat on the floor, jumped off the chair he had used to reach the item and stomped Hitler’s formal headwear until it was flat.

“I swear to this day I could see his face in it,” Marowitz told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview, recalling how he “smashed the hell out of it.”

Marowitz, who brought the souvenir back to New York after World War II ended, died this week at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Albany. His son, Larry Marowitz, told The Associated Press on Friday that his father died Wednesday after battling cancer and dementia. His death was first reported by The Times Union of Albany.

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Memorial Day 2016

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  7 Syrian Community Soldiers Killed in World War II and A Prayer for the United States Armed Forces   On Memorial Day, as we think about our Nation’s fallen soldiers, those brave individuals who died protecting us from threats foreign and domestic, and protecting and liberating others from the threats that faced them, let us not forget those members of our Syrian community who died during their service. They… Read More »Memorial Day 2016