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Piece of a lampshade

On 21 April 1945, a British parliamentary delegation visited Buchenwald Concentration Camp to see the conditions in the liberated camp for themselves. Two of the MPs took objects from the pathology department home with them to present to the British public.

Colonel William E. Williams, head of the 120th Evacuation Hospital, who was on medical duty with his unit in Buchenwald at the time, gave a member of parliament a piece from the upper section of the shade of the desk lamp that had already been displayed on the table with pathological specimens on 16 April. The same lampshade can be recognised in a photo album, which the first camp commandant Karl Otto Koch had made in 1943, on his desk in the camp commandant's office.

The lampshade, which was also intended as evidence, was literally plundered within days. In a photo from 24 April 1945, only the frame of the lampshade remains.

The piece of the lampshade was later found in the parliamentarian's family estate. In the course of Dr. Myfanwy Lloyd's research, the family expressed the wish to hand over the object to the Buchenwald Memorial. The handover took place on 11 April 2023.

An expert report on the property was commissioned by the Buchenwald Memorial on 19 February 2024. The result is still pending.

Office of the camp commandant. You can see the lampshade that was also shown on the table with the specimens on 16 April 1945.
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Office of the camp commandant Hermann Pister. In the background is a lampshade made of human skin, 1943. The same lampshade also stood on the desk of the first camp commandant Karl Otto Koch.

©Besancon Museum
The picture shows a large lampshade sewn together from square pieces of skin on the sides and triangular pieces of skin on the top.
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Lampshade made of human skin from the office of camp commander Karl Otto Koch, 1945 Photo: U.S. Signal Corps

©Arolsen Archives
You can see a piece of a lampshade made from human skin. The skin has become yellowish due to the tanning process. Puncture holes can be seen along the edges, implying that the piece was originally sewn together with others.
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Piece of a lampshade made from human skin

©Buchenwald Memorial
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