The Lampshade: A Holocaust Detective Story from Buchenwald to New Orleans

by Mark Jacobson

Few growing up in the aftermath of World War II will ever forget the horrifying reports that Nazi concentration camp doctors had removed the skin of prisoners to makes common, everyday lampshades. In The Lampshade, bestselling journalist Mark Jacobson tells the story of how he came into possession of one of these awful objects, and of his search to establish the origin, and larger meaning, of what can only be described as an icon of terror.

Jacobson’s mind-bending historical, moral, and philosophical journey into the recent past and his own soul begins in Hurricane Katrina–ravaged New Orleans. It is only months after the storm, with America’s most romantic city still in tatters, when Skip Henderson, an old friend of Jacobson’s, purchases an item at a rummage a very strange looking and oddly textured lampshade. When he asks what it’s made of, the seller, a man covered with jailhouse tattoos, replies, “That’s made from the skin of Jews.” The $35. A few days later, Henderson sends the lampshade to Jacobson, saying, “You’re the journalist, you find out what it is.” The lampshade couldn’t possibly be real, could it? But it is. DNA analysis proves it.

This revelation sends Jacobson halfway around the world, to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, where the lampshades were supposedly made on the order of the infamous “Bitch of Buchenwald,” Ilse Koch. From the time he grew up in Queens, New York, in the 1950s, Jacobson has heard stories about the human skin lampshade and knew it to be the ultimate symbol of Nazi cruelty. Now he has one of these things in his house with a DNA report to prove it, and almost everything he finds out about it is contradictory, mysterious, shot through with legend and specious information.

Through interviews with forensic experts, famous Holocaust scholars (and deniers), Buchenwald survivors and liberators, and New Orleans thieves and cops, Jacobson gradually comes to see the lampshade as a ghostly illuminator of his own existential status as a Jew, and to understand exactly what that means in the context of human responsibility.

One question looms as his search goes what to do with the lampshade—this unsettling thing that used to be someone? It is a difficult dilemma to be sure, but far from the last one, since once a lampshade of human skin enters your life, it is very, very hard to forget.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Holocaust, World War II, True Crime, Mystery, War

357 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2010

Reviews

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If I were a human skin lampshade who might or might not have been constructed by a doomed Jewish shoemaker at the behest of a mad red-haired woman on a horse, and then found sixty years later by a dope fiend in an abandoned house after the worst storm in in a United States history..."

Mark Jacobson is sent this horrific Nazi artifact through the US Postal Service. Much of this book juxtaposes the unthinkable with the mundane. It works.

Mark sets out to learn as much as he can about the origins of this lampshade and its authenticity. His journey takes him to New Orleans and Buchenwald, El Paso and Israel. He interviews the expected scholars, historians, and rabbis. But he also interviews the unexpected - David Duke of the KKK, the musician, Aaron Neville, the actress, Dyanne Thorne who played Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", in the film "She Wolf of the SS". By including some of these colorful people, he thankfully lightens the tone.

At one point, Mark journeys to El Paso to interview Albert Rosenberg, an American officer who was there at the liberation of Buchenwald. Rosenberg, now 90, wonders about evil. What is it that allows evil to flourish? He now sees evil at the El Paso-Juarez border. What is it about the convergence of people, geography, opportunity that feeds evil?

There are many ethical and moral questions raised in this book. I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.

[Donny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not going to lie, somewhat disappointed. The book had a lot of tangents and I felt at times was not really focused on the lampshade. Occasionally, I thought the tangents were quite interesting, especially about the post-Katrina. However, some where just too much and could have been left out of the book. Nonetheless, a very disturbing book when focused on the actual subject and was certainly interesting, but was expecting more I guess.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Lampshade is not an emotionally easy read. It is the true story of the author’s quest to track down the origins of a lampshade created from human skin. The grisly artifact was purchased at a yard sale for a paltry sum; its seller was a drug-addicted pathological liar who apparently stole the lampshade in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Could the hideous object have its origins in Nazi Germany?

The author faces the arduous task of learning about the remains and who they may have come from coupled with the overwhelming desire to release the haunting item from his possession (can you blame him?). Along the way he cites especially gruesome examples of man’s inhumanity to man throughout history.

Much has been said of the author’s at-times arduous skipping-around through time and place and back again; he’s literally all over the map. On one hand, I could see where this could annoy readers, on the other, I understood his need to frequently reframe the reader’s experience. After all, we are reading about a knickknack made out of a human corpse, which very well may be a product of the Holocaust. I doubt Jacobson wants to torment his readers any more than he already does.

I’ll admit that parts of this book nauseated me. However, I also understand the need for stories like this to be told.

[Mary MacKintosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was embarrassed to have checked this book out of my library. Also, I was surprised the library owned it—I mean, it's a creepy subject, and I live in a small town. Then I went and enjoyed the heck out of reading it. It isn't just that Mark Jacobson writes well. He has a great voice. Much of the pleasure of the read is that he captures the spirit of New Orleans in this bizarre odyssey of a lampshade made of human skin. Jacobson tries to find a home for this object. His trip takes him from New Orleans to Buchenwald to Israel, with stops in between. He is repulsed by the lampshade, but he also has an affection for it. Museums will not take it. He weaves the Katrina disaster and the horror of the Nazi death camps into a fascinating narrative. Who could know? The nice thing is that The Lampshade is indexed and has references. I always respect a publisher that indexes a nonfiction work. Don't skip reading the Prologue.

[Кака с книги · Rating 5 out of 5]

отворен край в стила на кримка, оставяща ни да гадеем... една от най-добрите документални книги, които съм чела напоследък...бих препоръчала 🫶

[Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read a book quite like this, nor seen anything quite like it. The plot centers on a lampshade bought in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, bought by a character named Skip Henderson at a garage sale. He asks "What's this thing made of, anyhow?"

The man answers "That's made from the skin of Jews." (44). He winds up buying the thing, and gives it to the author to find out what he can. The book that follows is extraordinary. Each chapter more or less has a focus, the first being Ilse Koch, the infamous "Bitch of Buchenwald" who supposedly turned inmates into lampshades as gifts for her husband. Along the way Jacobson tries to meet Koch's son and winds up meeting the actress who played her in the film Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS.

It is these strange meetings that make this book so memorable. One could easily get bogged down in the characters that appear in the text, but Jacobson never allows the reader to lose sight of the reason he is meeting these people: the lampshade. It literally hangs over this book like a ghost. It is terrible in so many ways, but an incredible monument to both cruelty and urban legend. Is it real? Is it a myth?

The lampshade is the main character in the text; if anything, post-Katrina New Orleans shares this role. Jacobson was a one-time resident of the city and still has multiple friends and connections there. The man who sold the lampshade told three different stories about how he got it, the guy who bought the thing runs his own krewe for Mardi Gras, Dr. John makes an appearance. The prologue involves a Dominican spiritualist telling Jacobson "fate has delivered this to you, and it is good...you are all he has now." (3-4) Hell, even David Duke shows up. By this time he is living in Bavaria (where else?).

The main question in this book is "What do we do with the past that shames us?". This is the question that binds the lampshade and New Orleans, the Holocaust and neo-Nazism. Do yourself a favor and find out what answers Jacobson finds. You won't be disappointed.

[Mrs. Hassig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited awhile to write my review of this book. I am a Holocaust educator and librarian at a small Holocaust library. This library position enabled me to find this book. Throughout my years of learning about the Holocaust, I have read about soap, shrunken heads, and lampshades. When I finished reading this book I conferred with my Education Director to verify some of the things I'd read about. She agreed that theses things existed but not on the scale we sometimes hear about. Jacobson did a good job on this point. However, she thought the lampshade, if made at Buchenwald during the time of the Bitch of Buchenwald, would not have been Jewish. Jews arrived at Buchenwald after the Bitch and her husband. Another reason is that tattooing is against Jewish customs. It would have been a male too because that was the main gender at Buchenwald. I really liked the connection the author made to Katrina. His inclusion of lynchings and the horrors of Jim Crow were interesting as well. I also loved all of the amazing characters!!! I really liked the book I just wish we'd known the answer at the end. It's important to note that this book is not an easy read and is definitely not for the faint of heart!

[ba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journalist is given a lampshade that may be made of the skin of a Jew. The process of trying to determine the exact origin of the lampshade, and how it came to be floating in the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina both brings much to light about the Holocaust and the Crescent City, but also obscures the light of truth, much like, you know, a lampshade.

We meet some real characters, both historical and contemporary, explore the best and worst that mankind has to offer, and even examine the knowability of absolute truth versus mythic narrative.

I was captivated for the whole book, and found it well-written and painstakingly researched.

[Тихомира Паричкова · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite disturbing book I would say.
It even made me stop reading it for a while.
Overall I would say that I liked it.

The author weaves the theme for the Katrina hurricane and all the damages that are left afterwards, not only the material ones, but also the psychological ones, the fear people live with after disasters like this one, the fear Jewish people may leave until the end of their lives...a fear of a disaster so cruel as Holocaust has been could haunt them forever.

In the book you will find the hot and yet sensitive topic of racism.
It made me start thinking and researching a little but the reason behind it, why do we split into black and white, Jews or not..

Why do some of us deserve to live but others don't, who are we to judge and decide on this, why are people cruel to each other?

It made me think of how do we people react to history.

Is the past haunting us or can we use it as a weapon and a learnt lesson to write the bright future.

The past and the future are part of an endless timeline and our lives are a small part of it, let's give our best and leave a small but bright imprint in it.

[Erin Entrada Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers a lot of ground. Some of the prose is directly related to the titular lampshade; some more tangentially. Ultimately it is about his quest to find the truth of the lampshade and all the difference avenues of thoughts and characters that he discovers along the way. Incredibly well-written.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. Really enjoyed that.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story evolves by piecing together a somewhat confusing issue of how a probable German gristly artefact was discovered in New Orleans. The book is a journey in itself and the writer tackles the case just like an investigator would examining and trying to find reason through a host of sources. I enjoyed the book immensely and I also enjoyed the reactions of people's' faces when they enquired about what I was reading. A little warning recently a more intensive DNA test was taken of the lampshade and it turned out to be Cow SKIN this can obviously put a dampner on the whole book lol but still an enjoyable read...

[Noran Miss Pumkin]

I seldom read books of this nature. At age 15 -at a fleamaket--I saw real Nazi pictures from the camps -for sale. My brother and father collected WWII stuff, and my brother wanted to add them to the collections. My father and I went to see them. The images seared into my young mind that day. My father- yelled at my brother-dragging him away from the dealer by his collar.

This books caught my interest though--will let you know.

[Fishface · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride this book was -- by turns engrossing, flesh-crawling and even hilarious in a few spots. It's a travel book, a work of investigative journalism, a dip into the culture of New Orleans, AND a microhistory of the Holocaust. Wonderfully written and almost impossible to put down. This one is truly, truly not to be missed.

[D. Ennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book about a human-skin lampshade it is a surprisingly enjoyable read. Very well written with many great digressions that help shape an overall view of the unfortunate and uplifting sides of humanity. Storytelling at its best.

[Jonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subject matter is horrific and it recalls the Holocaust. But as horrific as the book is to read - again, it's important to read so that we never forget the Holocaust.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book was sent a strange lamp by his friend, who had found it at a rummage sale. His friend purchased the lamp for $35, which is an amazing price. For the purchase of a historical artifact, that is cheap. For the purchase of a used lamp, that is sky high. I suppose it depends on how you choose to look at it, but I think that it was an amazing price for a historical artifact. Especially considering the story behind it. The author made it a mission to research the lamp as best he could, and the story of that research is an intriguing read. There have been many reports from both Jewish survivors and former Nazis about the making of various leather products from the skin of murdered Jewish people, in particular from the Buchenwald concentration camp. This is one little grain of horror in a beach full of them during the Nazi years, or even over the course of history. People just simply do some abhorrent things.

This book was wild. I have been to a lot of antique stores, yard sales, garage sales, and flea markets in my 35 years of life. I also collect oddities. I have never ran across a piece like this in any of those places, though I have found some Nazi items for sale at extraordinary prices. I cannot imagine coming across something like this- an item made from the skin of a murdered person. I found this book to be fascinating, partly because I am a war historian, and partly because the sheer morbidity and atrocity is staggering. If you are interested in the Holocaust or World War II, I would strongly suggest picking this up. It was one of the better World War II books that I have read in quite some time.

[Aaron Deitchler · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Lampshade" by Mark Jacobson is a tale of frustrating discovery for truth in a time where the Nazis were destroying every last remnant of the Holocaust and the horrifying experiments done on prisoners in the concentration camps. I think one of the craziest parts of this story is the fact that the discovery of this lampshade happened in the immediate aftermath of one of the greatest natural (and government) disasters in American history, Hurricane Katrina. With New Orleans in shambles, lawlessness reigned supreme, and with the city already being under water, there were out of the ordinary relics being found. While the discovery of the lampshade is one thing, the search for truth is even more frustrating as Jacobson could never find a straight answer from anyone he came in contact with. His search took him to multiple countries and locations throughout the United States and the answers were a litany of "I don't knows" or "I'm not sure." I found the most frustration trying to search for answers myself as this is a fascinating (albeit horrifying) reminder of what was done to Jews in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. I liked the book, but the let down of never knowing what was going on was too much to bear. But maybe that is the point? In a time where the Nazis were the first deniers of the Holocaust, maybe answers of the time period are not meant to be found, maybe it's just a reminder of how sick and twisted humanity can be.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

**2 stars**

It’s been awhile since I haven’t finished a book, but I managed to avoid that here thanks to Audible and push through.

I try to go into a book with little expectations, but I did expect to learn something about the lampshade and the research done to learn about it that supports writing whole book. However, there’s very little about the scientific research that supports that this lampshade found in New Orleans after Katrina that ties it to the holocaust. There’s barely any science that confirms the lampshade is made of human skin, period.

Perhaps this is unfair of me, given the book was not written by a historian or scientist but rather a journalist. I learned more about the opinions of the author and those he spoke to than about the history of Buchenwald or the lampshade. This was disappointing as I didn’t venture into this book to learn about someone’s opinion of the Holocaust or the Nazi’s. I wanted to learn about the terrible things that were done to honor the victims. Unfortunately this book, while well intended, misses the mark there.

[Mary Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out interesting: a man finds himself owning a lampshade that possibly was made of human skin. The history and background of the concentration camps and people like Ilse Koch are relevant, though disturbing. But then Mark Jacobson goes off on tangents that I ended up just sort of skimming, because they had little to nothing to do with the lampshade or trying to find out its origin or truth: rambling details about Hurricane Katrina, the damage caused by the storm, slavery, etc., all with tenuous links to the lampshade, at best. The book also started to read like an anti-white diatribe at times, which was irritating to read. I would have just quit reading except I really wanted to find out what he ever learned about the lampshade. Turns out whatever we are going to find out about the lampshade were covered in maybe the first third of the book, and the rest of the book was basically a waste of time.

[Mary Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a strange book. Very jumpy narrative arc. While the author seemingly has no issues sensationalizing- well, everything- he seems oddly objected to making a firm point.

Despite the subject of the book being a NAZI LAMPSHADE MADE OF HUMAN SKIN .... it actually ends up being more of a think piece on the racial politics in New Orleans surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Which to be fair - I do find specifically interesting !
But overall, it left me feeling like the extensive complexities of two historical tragedies were just being tossed around in a tepid pool of philosophical posturing.

Also - while I completely understand his important search for artifact provenance ..... imagining this man going around the lower 9th Ward asking recently Katrina-traumatized residents about a Nazi lampshade made of human skin is actually so psychotic oh my god.


Best line of the book was when he referred to Baton Rouge as, "that former governmental backwater of frat houses and Taco Bells".
Got em!

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to DNF at about 40% in, but I continued against my better judgment. I was interested in the validity of the lampshade and the dark history surrounding its alleged creation. Ilse Koch is a notorious female Nazi, known for brutality on a scale of her very own. I was intrigued to find out more, but this book provides no concrete answers. I did enjoy some of the speculation, but found the lampshade to be a secondary character in the author's wiring about New Orleans. I expect some background as to how he had obtained the lampshade, but was not prepared for such an extensive, tangential and meandering history of the city. While the discussion would have been great in a book centered specifically on New Orleans, it only served to detract from what should have been the main storyline of this book.

[Carrie Coulter Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me a different view of the value of life. The atrocities the Nazis and Hitler carried out has always saddened me, but finding out skin from prisoners was used to make everyday items is beyond fathomable! To even have that evil of a mentality baffles me.
Those that say concentration camps never gassed or murdered people is outrageous. There’s plenty of proof. Ever race has had their share of torture and genocide. We should take all that history to heart.
Mark Jacobson went above and beyond to figure out the origin of the shade. Traveling the globe, speaking to people he might never have come in contact with was fascinating. I only gave 4 stars because of so many people to keep up with and all the German language to wade through. Necessary but difficult.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing piece of journalistic non-fiction. Mark Jacobson's friend purchased a lampshade at a yard sale in New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The odd character that sold it claimed it was one of the infamous Nazi lampshades, made from the skin of a concentration camp victim. It found its way to the author who worked for two years to make sense of what it was and where it came from. He leads the reader on a wide ranging journey, touching on many aspects of Holocaust history, the popular perception of the Holocaust, forensic science, New Orleans and the history of slavery/ American racism, and how all these matters swirl around this particular hideous artifact.

[Anne Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fascinating and horrible story is at the core of this book, but too often the author follows interesting side anecdotes for far too long and far too deep, to the point that the core tale often gets lost for too long. One thing this book does do -- as well as author books about genocide and holocausts -- is remind us that the current complaints of freedom restrictions like wearing a mask in public are nothing compared to what other humans across time have had to not only live with and endure, but to overcome with strength of spirit and humanity.

[Barbara Cottrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lampshade is a true tale of an amazing journey with what may (or may not) be a legendary Nazi artifact. The author, Mark Jacobson, discovers an old lampshade after Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans. Told it is the infamous lampshade made out of the skin of a Holocaust victim, at first he is skeptical. But when he receives a compelling report from a DNA lab, he goes on a journey to try to establish a provenance for the strange item. His quest takes him to all sorts of unusual places. Part detective story, part travel log, part history, it is a fascinating book!

[Laura Valenziano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about a lampshade that turns up after Hurricane Katrina which is discovered to be made of human skin. The author tries to determine if the story that it was made during WWII at Buchenwald is true. A lot of interesting information is discovered when the author makes trips to Europe to learn more about the stories of the concentration camps. Were the bodies of murdered Jewish people during the Holocaust being used to make ordinary household items?

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough, but if you want a story that answers questions.. not the tale to be starting. This covers a lot of groundwork, a lot of history, and makes interesting comparisons with the Author's thoughts. It hopped around and at times was tedious with over detailed parts. Otherwise a good read.

[Cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone with a connection to New Orleans and an interest in the macabre or in the evils of the Holocaust, this book could be worth reading, even though additional testing two years after the book was published came up with a different conclusion on the provenance.

[Стефани Димитрова · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книгата съдържа изключително много и любопитни исторически факти. Стилът от друга страна е твърде объркан м/у роман и документален доклад. Вплетени да доста сюжетни линии и изисква по-внимателно проследяване.
Преводът на български не е на ниво, според мен.