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Is it True That the SS Had Lampshades Made out of Human Skin at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp?

Answers by Dr. Harry Stein

There are three chapters to the story:
1. Was there ever such a lampshade, and if so, who actually saw it?
2. Did the lampshade exist in April 1945? Was it used as evidence?
3. How did the story about the lampshade develop? How and by what means was it passed on?

Shrunken heads, organ preparations in jars, and a lampshade are set up on a table.
Two shrunken heads, tattooed human skins, preparations from the pathology department and a lampshade are shown to the Weimar population, 16 April 1945. Photo: Walter Chichersky.

1. Was there ever such a lampshade, and if so, who actually saw it?

There are two reliable eyewitnesses, who gave sworn testimony: the Austrian political prisoner Dr. Gustav Wegerer, head of the pathology work detail, and Josef Ackermann, a political prisoner in the pathology work detail and secretary to the camp doctor, Waldemar Hoven. Wegerer stated in lieu of oath: "At about the same time [1941- H.S.], Koch, the camp commander, and the SS doctor Müller appeared in my work detail at the pathology department. At the time, a lampshade made of tanned, tattooed human skin was being produced for Koch. Koch and Müller were searching for a motif among the existing tanned, parchment-thin human skins which had tattoos and thus came into question for the lampshade. From the conversation that the two were having, it was clear that Ilse Koch had not liked the previously selected motifs. The lampshade was then finished and delivered to Koch." Dr. Hans Müller, later SS doctor at Obersalzberg, was in the pathology department at Buchenwald from 1941 to 1942.

The time of this occurrence can be further specified by Ackermann's testimony. As he stated in court in 1950, Ackermann was the one who delivered the lampshade. The lampstand was made from a human foot and shinbone; tattoos and even chest nipples were visible on the lampshade. On the occasion of Koch's birthday party [August 1941 - H.S.], the camp doctor Hoven had given him the task of delivering the lamp to the commander's villa, which he did. One of the party guests had later told him that the presentation of the lamp had been a great success. The lamp had disappeared again immediately, once more senior SS leadership had learned about it. It was later not possible to prove that Ilse Koch was responsible for the production of the lamp (see A. L. Smith, "Die Hexe von Buchenwald," Weimar, Köln, Wien 1994, p. 192).

The "more senior SS leadership" was most likely Prinz Josias zu Waldeck-Pyrmont, a high-ranking SS and police official, who had Koch arrested in late 1941 the first time for corruption and an unbridled use of power. There are some indications that around the time of his arrest the lampshade was destroyed as a possible piece of evidence. Dr. Kurt Sitte, a political prisoner assigned to the pathology work detail beginning in the spring of 1942, recalls that during his time in the pathology department, people still talked about the lampshade, but he never saw it himself. Also, SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen did not find such evidence at the time when Koch was arrested for a second time and his home was searched in August 1943.

If one goes by eyewitness accounts, there had been a lampshade made of human skin in the second half of 1941 – created as an insidious "party gift," which would certainly align with Karl Koch's personality. It had long disappeared before the end of the war.

2. Did the lampshade exist in April 1945? Was it used as evidence?

On April 16, 1945, in the liberated camp, specimens from the pathology department were presented on a table for the first time. Among them were a number of tanned, tattooed human hides, two "shrunken heads," and a lampshade. A photograph and films of this table spread around the world.

The selected specimens shown at that time – the lampshade not being among them –were tested for their authenticity shortly thereafter by specialists of the U.S. Army. Major Reuben Cares, Chief Pathologist of the 7th Medical Laboratory, APO 403, New York, produced a report on the authenticity of the pieces of tanned and tattooed human skin found in Buchenwald. He concluded that "all three specimens are tattooed human skin." The expert opinion was dated May 25, 1945 and was among the evidence material used in the Buchenwald Trail at Dachau.

According to an inventory (also material from the Buchenwald Trail), a portion of the pieces of evidence shown on the table in Buchenwald were kept and secured at various places and by alternating people: from April 29, 1945 by Major Purry E. Thomsen, Infantry, 12th Army Group; as of October 15, 1945 by Lt. Colonel Ottmar Eichmann, Cav.; as of December 1, 1946 by Alexander von Blumenthal, CWO, USA; as of January 15, 1947 by William D. Denson, civilian attorney in the War Department and Chief Prosecutor for the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Case.

Today, most of the specimens are in the U.S. National Archives and in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, both in Washington D.C. Among the pieces of skin preserved at the National Archives is one that indicates it may have been prepared for further use (having a trapezoidal shape and holes).

The lampshade visible on various photos between April 16 and 21, 1945 was no longer among the pieces of evidence by late April, and today it is not found in any American collection. Its actual consistency cannot be confirmed; commentators from that time spoke of a lampshade made from human skin. In my opinion, which is based on the comparison of various photographs, this was a table lamp from the office of the camp commander, Hermann Pister.

3. How did the story about the lampshade develop? How and by what means was it passed on?

The story of a lampshade made of human skin was part of the post-war narrative, and it was very prevalent in the media, particularly in relation to the two trails of Ilse Koch in 1947 and 1950.

Although it was not possible to prove Ilse Koch's concrete guilt in respect to this item, for many years the lampshade story remained an established part of the Buchenwald narrative (not only in the GDR).

The first exhibition on the history of the camp, dating from 1954, showed a small, simply designed lampshade of a nightlamp as a "lampshade of human skin." The lamp had been donated by Karl Straub, a former inmate and clearly stemmed from the camp. The organizer of the exhibition (Museum für Deutsche Geschichte, East Berlin) did not see any need to confirm its authenticity and considered it an obligation to portray the story. The little lampshade was continued to appear in all the following exhibitions as a "lampshade of human skin" and was still on view in the redesigned permanent exhibition of 1985.  

Not until the fundamental review of all collected and exhibited items, which took place after the end of the GDR, was the authenticity of the lampshade tested. The forensic assessment made by the Institut für Gerichtliche Medizin der Medizinischen Akademie Erfurt (Prof. Dr. sc. med. Leopold) on July 6, 1992, states: "Specimen IV (lampshade) cannot, in contrast, be serologically identified as human. It is possibly a kind of plastic produced during that time for lampshades. However, one cannot completely exclude the possibility that it is biological material."

The lampshade had already been removed from the permanent exhibition by this time. It currently remains in the memorial's collection, as a fake.

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