# Human Skin Lampshade **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732 "2012-05-12T23:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/21 "2012-05-14T10:39:31Z")
I own a book on World War II published in 1946. It contains the “widely circulated photograph” referenced in Cecil’s column. The photograph is of a table covered with “Nazi souvenirs,” including shrunken heads, various preserved human body parts, and yes, two crudely-made lamps that certainly look as though the shades _could_ be made of human skin. Cecil kind of glosses over this picture without actually saying it has been debunked. Has it been debunked? I’d be curious whether either of these lamps matches in appearance the lamp found in New Orleans. I’d upload a scan for group consideration, but I’m not sure I want to be uploading pictures of Nazi souvenirs on my Photobucket page. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/22 "2012-05-14T10:59:07Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I own the book _The Lampshade_. It’s not a bad read. It’s not definitive that it came from the Holocaust, but very suggestive. And, really, where else is such a thing going to come from? Does the book contain a picture of the lampshade? Is there a picture online (for comparison with the picture in my 1946 book)? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/23 "2012-05-14T13:07:46Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > I strongly suspect it’s a windup. Yeah, just another version of that human meat website hoax from a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/24 "2012-05-14T13:09:21Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Does the book contain a picture of the lampshade? Is there a picture online (for comparison with the picture in my 1946 book)? The book has a pic on the cover, can’t say for sure it’s the actual lampshade > **[The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans:...](https://www.amazon.com/Lampshade-Holocaust-Detective-Buchenwald-Orleans/dp/1416566279)** > > The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans \[Jacobson, Mark\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/25 "2012-05-14T13:32:06Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > The book has a pic on the cover, can’t say for sure it’s the actual lampshade > [The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans: Jacobson, Mark: 9781416566274: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/The-Lampshade-Holocaust-Detective-Buchenwald/dp/1416566279) Is that a picture or a drawing? It does not match the lampshades in my 1946 book. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/26 "2012-05-14T13:39:50Z")
Correction: there is only one lampshade in my 1946 book. What I had thought was a second lampshade appears to be part of a sheet that had been covering the “souvenirs.” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/27 "2012-05-14T14:15:48Z")
Another point for the “human leather” data collection: [“Big Nose” George Parrot](http://www.francescacontreras.com/roadtrip/7-museum.html). Apparently you can still see the shoes made from George’s skin on display at the Carbon County Museum in Wyoming. A doctor bag was also made from his skin, but it has disappeared. If an old medical bag made from unusually pale leather turns up at a garage sale, snap it up…could be Big Nose George. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/28 "2012-05-14T15:13:37Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > What an unsettling link. I feel queasy. That’s saying a LOT. > > Joe I don’t believe for one second that that site is for real. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/29 "2012-05-14T15:28:42Z")
I seem to recall a movie they made us watch twice in high school…maybe “Night and Fog”? can’t remember the name, will Google later…about the Holocaust. We had to watch it first with no sound, then with the sound. I recall that it mentioned and showed a lampshade made with the skin of a Holocaust victim, possibly with the tattoo…that the Allies found when they liberated the camps. Is that the one Cecil was referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/30 "2012-05-14T15:37:18Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Is that a picture or a drawing? It does not match the lampshades in my 1946 book. I think it’s a crappy faded-out photo used in some but not all covers of the books. Do a Google Image search of **lampshade jacobson** and you’ll see better versions of the photo. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/31 "2012-05-14T16:22:47Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > I strongly suspect it’s a windup. You may be right, but that didn’t change how I felt as I was reading it. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/32 "2012-05-14T16:35:05Z")
OK, I found online [the picture of Nazi “souvenirs” from my 1946 book on the war](http://www.thepeoplescube.com/images/Human_Skin_Lampshade_Tattoo.jpg). Lampshade is on the right. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/33 "2012-05-14T18:42:36Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > OK, I found online [the picture of Nazi “souvenirs” from my 1946 book on the war](http://www.thepeoplescube.com/images/Human_Skin_Lampshade_Tattoo.jpg). Lampshade is on the right. Badly proportioned damned thing, ugly as hell. The one in the other picture is how the author describes it [and it seems better proportioned] though I wouldn’t care for mardi gras color tassels on anything … ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/34 "2012-05-14T22:32:19Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Another point for the “human leather” data collection: [“Big Nose” George Parrot](http://www.francescacontreras.com/roadtrip/7-museum.html). Apparently you can still see the shoes made from George’s skin on display at the Carbon County Museum in Wyoming. A doctor bag was also made from his skin, but it has disappeared. If an old medical bag made from unusually pale leather turns up at a garage sale, snap it up…could be Big Nose George. And another: - [William Corder](http://barrelrider.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/the-murder-in-the-red-barn/) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/35 "2012-05-14T23:51:05Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > That thread title is even a trigger for me. As a child of survivors, it’s awfully unsettling. I’m with the boyfriend. I’m sorry, **Ivory**. I was worried the thread title might be upsetting for some people, but I also wanted people to know what they were getting themselves into. I apologize for any suffering this thread might have caused you. I certainly did not intend offense to any Holocaust survivors. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/36 "2012-05-15T01:21:45Z")
It’s ok, olives. It’s not about offense, it’s about the secondary PTSD. Some things are just triggers. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/37 "2012-05-15T06:13:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Wasn’t that in Silence of the Lambs? (apologies in advance) No, that was _Silence of the Lamps._ ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/38 "2012-05-15T06:54:58Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > What an unsettling link. I feel queasy. That’s saying a LOT. > > Joe You think that’s bad, when I visit the site, the sidebar ad is [this](http://planzgroup.com/ceoblog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/groupon_in_philippines_google_ads_ceo_blog-300x251.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/39 "2012-05-15T15:16:58Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > (apologies in advance) > > No, that was _Silence of the Lamps._ Now I feel queasy. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/40 "2012-05-15T22:58:00Z")
No cite, but the story I heard was that a female concentration camp administrator saw an ex merchant seaman prisoner who was covered in tattoos, actually had him on one side while she discussed what she was going to do in front of him, had him gassed and flayed and then the lampshade made which she sent as a gift to Hitler to ingratiate herself with him. When he received it he was livid with anger and revulsion and sent word that he was never again to be sent a gift like this. Though she wasn’t punished. I read this a good many years ago, but couldn’t say whether or not its true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732.md?page=3)