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.
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.”
Another point for the “human leather” data collection: “Big Nose” George Parrot. 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.
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?
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.
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 …
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.
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.
