# Nazi human skin lampshades **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113 "2010-07-26T22:42:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/81 "2014-06-05T18:45:51Z")
MOERATOR NOTE: Just noting this thread was from 2010, with occasional later posts in 2013 until updated today (5 June 2014) in Post #80. That’s OK, we don’t mind new info being added to old topics, but we don’t want folks getting riled up and feeling they have to respond to something – and not realizing the "something’ is three years old. If you take my point. --CKDH ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/82 "2014-06-05T18:50:01Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > MOERATOR NOTE: Just noting this thread was from 2010, with occasional later posts in 2013 until updated today (5 June 2014) in Post #80. That’s OK, we don’t mind new info being added to old topics, but we don’t want folks getting riled up and feeling they have to respond to something – and not realizing the "something’ is three years old. If you take my point. --CKDH Thanks for the reminder, Moe. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/83 "2014-06-07T18:07:58Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > We’re left with speculation of whether it is an authentic NAZI artifact, somehow smuggled to the US and kept in secret until Katrina ravaged New Orleans and caused it to turn up. It’s the voodoo, I tells ya! ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/84 "2014-06-11T10:04:26Z")
According to Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > In 2012, Jacobson agreed to further testing. When subjected to next-generation DNA testing, the lampshade was found to be cow skin, with 100% certainty. > **[The Lampshade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lampshade:_A_Holocaust_Detective_Story_from_Buchenwald_to_New_Orleans)** > > The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans is a 2010 nonfiction book by U.S. author Mark Jacobson. It recounts the attempt to ascertain the origin of a lampshade purportedly made from human skin. It was not until 2012 that DNA testing was sophisticated enough to determine that the shade was likely made from a parchment of cow skin. > In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a lampshade purported to be made from the skin of a Jewish Holocaust victim, turned u... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/85 "2014-06-11T17:23:23Z")
Well, _that’s_ an anticlimax! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/86 "2014-06-13T00:37:53Z")
But was it a Jewish cow? ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/87 "2014-06-13T15:17:31Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > But was it a Jewish cow? No, it produced goy milk. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/88 "2014-06-17T23:12:20Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **Claverhouse** said: > > I can imagine that someone might be of the mindset “Hey, I was there, look at how bad things were. See, I have proof.” Some people find all sorts of macabre things interesting. I think I would be simultaneously creeped out and fascinated by a human skin lampshade. Actually while in Viet Nam I knew several guys who had necklaces of human ears they’d collected from their "kills.’ Don’t see human skin lampshades a lot different. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/89 "2014-06-25T18:53:47Z")
In 1972 while my father was stationed in Germany we the family went to visit Berlin. At the time there were numerous museums on the west side of the wall and we visited several of them. There were many photos of stuff like piles of eye glasses piled up about as high as a van, and gold from teeth enough to fill a bathtub. Quite clear in my memory were photos of lamp shades made with human skin. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/90 "2014-06-25T18:58:23Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > In 1972 while my father was stationed in Germany we the family went to visit Berlin. At the time there were numerous museums on the west side of the wall and we visited several of them. > > There were many photos of stuff like piles of eye glasses piled up about as high as a van, and gold from teeth enough to fill a bathtub. > > Quite clear in my memory were photos of lamp shades made with human skin. A photo can not tell you what a lampshade is made of. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/91 "2014-06-25T19:30:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A photo can not tell you what a lampshade is made of. It was a b&w photo of a small candlestick-type lamp with a shade about 6" in diameter. The caption said something like “shade made from human skin.” These were museums in west Berlin and they showed some rather gruesome images of the death camps and Nazi atrocities. Across the street you could see the Berlin wall; I still have the piece of cinder block that I picked up off the ground from the base of the wall. In my mind there is no doubt the Nazis made lamp shades from human skin. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/92 "2014-06-25T19:48:47Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > It was a b&w photo of a small candlestick-type lamp with a shade about 6" in diameter. The caption said something like “shade made from human skin.” > > These were museums in west Berlin and they showed some rather gruesome images of the death camps and Nazi atrocities. Across the street you could see the Berlin wall; I still have the piece of cinder block that I picked up off the ground from the base of the wall. > > In my mind there is no doubt the Nazis made lamp shades from human skin. None of that refutes what I said in post #90. A caption isn’t evidence of anything other than the caption writer’s opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/93 "2015-05-26T17:03:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumping this thread… > > Just saw the May 1, 2013 episode of PBS’s _Secrets of the Dead_. It was titled “Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers” and was about British Intelligence’s eavesdropping on German POWs, some of them very high-ranking, during World War II… PBS will air this again here on June 17 at 10pm. American Dopers, check your local listings. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/94 "2015-05-26T18:05:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > PBS will air this again here on June 17 at 10pm. American Dopers, check your local listings. Heh, interesting. I’ll try and check it out. My understanding is that, while the making into soap and human lampshades etc. may be nearly entirely mythology, it was mythology at least initially spread by the Nazis themselves - as a way of terrifying/dehumanizing their victims. ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/95 "2015-05-26T21:16:34Z")
Since this thread is bumped, I’ll add this: the book “[The tunnel](http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AAndre%20Lacaze)” by Andre Lacaze mentions human lampshades on several occasions. Apparently the human skin was used only if it was heavily (and artistically) tattooed. It was written by a French journalist while he was in Loibl-Pass (a sister-camp of Mathausen). Check out the book, it’s well worth reading. The author claims “everything in book is true up to the smallest detail” save for the names. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/96 "2017-02-14T15:57:32Z")
Bumped because Cecil’s column is back on the front page. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/97 "2017-02-14T16:34:47Z")
So, since there is no proof of human lampshades, the entire Holocaust narrative is a lie, right? \ ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/98 "2017-02-14T16:35:29Z")
The Nazi Zombie thread that will never die … I’ve read through [the link in the final postscript](http://nymag.com/news/features/67963/) and found it well written, entertaining and full of thematic elements from a Jew raised in the 1950’s America somewhat insulated from the horrors of the Holocaust … and for that alone it is worth reading … just a thin slice of Americana that speaks to what it means to be a New Worlder … The plot-line fails because (spoiler used to hide spoilers): The ordinary evidence only leads to the ordinary conclusion the skin was from some hapless New Orleaner … the results from some voodoo ritual rather than yet more evidence of European atrocities against the Jews … I’m fine with using the lampshade as a McGruffen here because … … the tale is worth telling … and worth reading … insight that maybe has been lost over the years … ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/99 "2017-02-14T16:42:47Z")
See post 83. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113/100 "2017-02-14T16:44:09Z")
**watchwolf** , I think you mean [MacGuffin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nazi-human-skin-lampshades/548113.md?page=6)