"The Lampshade:" A ghastly tale of evil and cruelty!

[LongTomH]

I heard a really disturbing news item on NPR's All Things Considered today: an interview with author Mark Jacobson, author of "The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans" The artifact in question turned up in a yard sale in New Orleans, shortly after Katrina.

Jacobson's friend, Raymond "Skip" Henderson wanted to buy a drumset, when the seller directed his attention to a lamp with an unusual shade. The seller advised him that the shade was made from "the skin of a Jew.; it's Jewflesh." Henderson bought the grisly war trophy for $35 and took it home with him. On close examination, he found pores, wrinkles and other evidence of humanity. Henderson related that: "This thing could clear a room when I took it out of the box. People did not want to be in the same room with it!"

Henderson finally sent the lampshade to his friend Mark Jacobson, a journalist and author. DNA tests confirmed that the shade was human flesh; but, the ethnicity could not be determined. For his book, Jacobson researched stories of trophies made from human flesh by the Nazis, human skin lampshades and shrunken heads. After the liberation of Buchenwald by the allies in 1945, US Army officers put some of these trophies on display for the residents of the surrounding area, who claimed they did not know what was going on inside the camp.

Jacobson's attempts to give the horrid relic to a museum failed. The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and a museum in Israel both refused to take it, citing Jewish tradition regarding human body parts. Jacobson considered burying the shade, since it was once part of a human being; but, he didn't know where to bury it. He still can't determine with certainty that it was from a Jew, so a Jewish cemetery would be out of the question.

He still has the horrible thing; but, wishes someone would take if off his hands.

Audio for the NPR story can be heard here.

[bullwinkle428]

1. I listened to that as well - a pretty sobering story, even if the

authenticity of the item is in question.

[RKP5637]

2. Grisly, absolutely grisly. Never will I cease to be amazed at what cruelty

humans are capable of ...

[LongTomH]

5. Something I meant to comment on was............

The fact that some people could make lampshades out of human skin was horrifying. The fact that someone could consider that a war trophy and brag about it being made of "Jewflesh" also makes my skin crawl.

[RKP5637]

6. Yep, it's creepy, very very creepy and horrifying, the entire thing. n/t

[apocalypsehow]

3. Horrendous story, about a very ugly episode in human history. n/t.

[hlthe2b]

4. Well, I certainly wish he'd find a way to appropriately bury it.

or cremate it. I fear some disgusting neoNazi or the like might steal it as a trophy. Better to sanctify the remains in a simple burial than risk that, IMO.

I think the museums were quite right in refusing it, however.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. OMG! Just last night I watched a documentary about Ilse Koch!

The wife of a consentration camp commander that had lampshades and other things made out of the skins of Jewish prisoners...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTYMVBhw3Yc (part one of three)

Horrible.

[Poll_Blind]

8. THAT is a man who knows how to write! The consequences of the subject matter are....

...somewhat unfortunate. The human soap. The human skin lampshades. Repeating these anecdotes unintentionally benefits Holocaust deniers who latch on to their questionable authenticity and use it as an argumentative wedge to try to persuade others into doubting the greater, more well-documented aspects of Nazi atrocities.

Do I believe anyone on DU would fall for that line of reasoning? Well, I hope not. But the world is a big place and these really are the tools used to break down memory.

Did I say this guy could write!? This guy can write! Read this excerpt from his book and tell me you don't think the same after reading it, too. Wow. Reminds me of Lansdale at his very, very best. It also becomes clear that he's telling a story and when one reads his fabulous writing I'm afraid there is little doubt it is just that: A story.

Is someone really in possession of a lab-tested human-skin lamp? Possibly. Does this mean it was a Nazi-made human-skin lamp, much less one made out of a murdered Jew? Doubtful. And here, again, like the very hawker of the item in the story comes an absurd assertion: That not only were Nazis, regardless of any official policy, responsible for producing such items but they did so with such frequency that these items are anything more frequent than one-offs.

There is also the reality that grisly artifacts recently-produced from the corpses of humans are not unknown to turn up now and again and that this sort of...token making...is and was not a passtime unique to a few even-more-disturbed-than-usual Nazis.

Anyway, whomever might be reading this might wish to consider reading Cecil Adam's The Straight Dope piece on the subject, entitled Did the Nazis make lampshades out of human skin? This is not Cecil's best work but even his bad days are still better than most.

PB

[LongTomH]

12. Thanks for the comments and the links!

The NPR report did say that the Holocaust Memorial Museum people were incredulous about the idea that this was a Holocaust relic, so this will remain a mystery.

Also, believe me, I have absolutely no desire to do, say or write anything that will give any material for the Holocaust deniers; I consider them to be scum of the Earth!

[Raine]

9. To do this is so sick and sad. nt

:cry:

[lamp_shade]

10. Hmmmmmm.... > >

[timtom]

11. It is not my intent to piss in anyone's wheaties

I truly have no horse in this race, but Cecil Adams has addressed this matter thus:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2511/did-the-nazis-make-lampshades-out-of-human-skin