New research has determined that a Nazi concentration camp lampshade is made of stretched human skin.
It has long been suspected that the “small lampshade” from the Buchenwald concentration camp was actually made of human skin but now new research has confirmed it beyond doubt.
An earlier report from 1992 had incorrectly said that the lampshade was made of plastic, with Holocaust deniers repeatedly using this report to deny the crimes committed by the Nazis, according to local media.
So the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Foundation in Thuringia decided to have it examined using the latest technology.
And after performing microscopic and forensic analyses, criminal biologist Mark Benecke, 53, is positive: the material the lampshade is made of “can only be human”.
The lampshade had been retrieved by the former German political prisoner Karl Straub (1898-1966) from one of the houses in a SS villa settlement near the concentration camp immediately after the Nazi defeat in April 1945.
The lampshade was then put on display at the concentration camp memorial centre from 1954 to 1990.
Watch And Ring Seized By Nazis From Resistance Fighter Who Died In Concentration Camp
It was removed from display due to ethical reasons after people began suspecting that it may in fact have been made using human skin.
The foundation says on its website: “We deliberately do not show human remains in our exhibitions, even though they are in our collection.
“Actually, they should be buried for humanitarian reasons.
“However, since they are also evidence of the National Socialist crimes in the concentration camps, we keep them.”
The director of the concentration camp memorial, Jens-Christian Wagner, said that the lampshade is proof of how “completely dehumanised” the SS were.
He added that no other German concentration camp had produced anything like it.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
