Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Who Would Pay $26K for Lampshade Made of Holocaust Victim’s Skin?

A Romanian watchdog on anti-Semitism complained to police about the sale online of an item advertised as a lampshade made of the skin of a Holocaust victim.

The lampshade was advertised online by an unidentified individual from Targu Jiu, located 145 miles northwest of Bucharest, who priced the lapshade at $26,800, the Antena 1 news channel reported on Saturday.

The Center for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism in Romania, or MCA Romania, wrote a letter to the county’s police and to Romanian Police Chief Viorel Salvador Caragea to prevent “this despicable trade,” which MCA Romania said is “outrageous and macabre.”

The group was not able to verify the claim that the lampshade is made of human remains, Maximillian Marco Katz told JTA.

“We will let the authorities to deal with it,” he said. “The fact is that the ad is still published so the seller was not bothered by the TV’s inquiry of the matter. Even if this is a hoax, the seller should be brought to justice for abusing the Holocaust for personal gains.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.