Fashion and the Holocaust: Remembering Identity, Resistance, and Survival

How clothing became a tool of control — and quiet defiance — during one of history’s darkest chapter.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how we remember history — not just through dates and numbers, but through human details. The personal things. The everyday things. And yes, even fashion.

When we talk about fashion and the Holocaust, we’re not talking about trends or aesthetics. We’re talking about clothing as identity, as control, and in some cases, as quiet resistance.

Before the Holocaust, Jewish communities across Europe expressed culture, religion, and individuality through dress. Clothing signaled tradition, profession, family life, and pride. That’s what made it such a powerful target.

Fashion and the Holocaust: Clothing as Control

Jewish badges from Croatia

One of the first things the Nazi regime did was regulate what Jewish people could wear. Yellow stars. Armbands. Uniforms in camps. Clothing became a weapon — a way to strip people of individuality and publicly mark them as “other.”

Men selected for forced labor from amongst Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in German-occupied Poland, June 1944. Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images

In concentration camps, prisoners were forced into ill-fitting striped uniforms, often taken from others who had already died. Shoes were mismatched. Coats were too thin. Hair was shaved. Names were replaced with numbers.

This wasn’t accidental. It was systematic. Removing personal clothing was a way to erase identity, dignity, and humanity.

Jews in Croatia wearing the distinctive Jewish badge on their clothes, 1941

Style as Survival and Resistance

And yet — even in unimaginable conditions — people found ways to resist.

Some prisoners altered their uniforms slightly to feel more human. Others shared scarves, repaired shoes, or saved scraps of fabric. Women sometimes tried to maintain cleanliness or small grooming rituals as acts of self-preservation.

Children’s clothes that belonged to Holocaust victims, symbolizing lost childhoods and the human cost of genocide 

These weren’t fashion statements in the modern sense. They were survival statements. Proof that even when everything was taken, identity could still exist.

Uniforms from Nazi Concentration Camps and Incarceration Sites

Fashion After the Holocaust: Memory and Responsibility

After the war, fashion took on new meaning for survivors. Dressing well became a way to reclaim visibility, confidence, and life itself. For some, it was about blending in. For others, it was about being seen again — fully, proudly.

Today, designers, museums, and historians continue to explore fashion and the Holocaust through exhibitions, archives, and education. Preserved garments, shoes, and personal items remind us that behind every statistic was a person with a life, a family, and a story.

From left to right: Concentration camp uniform with red triangle of a political prisoner. It was worn by Rose Pila, a Jewish prisoner who picked it up just before she was liberated from Buchenwald. Concentration camp uniform of Ilse "Ellen" Loeb, who was liberated from Mauthausen. Concentration camp uniform worn by Victor Moravcik, who was liberated from Offenburg. See more artifacts like these by visiting the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. https://www.dhhrm.org/visit/general-admission/.

Why This Matters Today

Fashion is often dismissed as superficial — but history proves otherwise. What we wear can signal power, belonging, exclusion, or resistance. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, remembering the role of clothing helps us understand how quickly systems can dehumanize — and how important it is to protect individuality, culture, and dignity.

This isn’t about romanticizing the past. It’s about remembering it honestly.

Because remembrance isn’t just about looking back — it’s about staying alert, empathetic, and human moving forward.