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Ilse Koch

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Evil Dames In History

Evil Dames In History

The second in our ongoing Evil Dames in History series features “The Beast of Buchenwald”, Ilse Koch. Kevin, Toren, and Joe look at this concentration camp terror, the claims of her bizarre leather work, as well as Ilse Koch inspirations in pop culture! Then we top it up with the return of “Lesser of Two Evils”.

Music: “The Old Lamplighter” by Sammy Kaye

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10 Responses

  1. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Human Lampshade episode of Caustic Soda! 😀

    Alright, alright. I guess after so many gruesome and bizarre episodes, it’s kind of hard to keep it fresh with just “mere” Nazis. I have to say, though… the “strangling” with hooks made me shudder. Ouch.

  3. Anytime humour and the Holocaust are brought together, a fine line must be navigated. I think the very fine gentlemen of Caustic Soda have been very successful here. This is a tremendously funny, gut wrenching, horrible, disgusting, sad and human episode. Ok, maybe the musical selection pushed precariously close to the edge (for me anyway), but I think this is an important episode for everyone to learn of humanities’ raw past, and to see (through the use of humour) our positive aspects. Great ep!

    1. I joked about the lampshade obsession, but I actually agree 95% with Alan here. I don’t mind the attention falling on a peripheral subject in an episode like this because really… when you’re talking about the sort of sadism and just plain ol’ evil Ilse Koch inflicted upon her fellow human beings, you need to tread very carefully to avoid stepping too far from the very narrow ideal path between being callous and being preachy. Good work, guys!

      Oh, and the 5% I disagree with? The accents. Now -those- wouldn’t require three rulings in court to get you guys put away for life!

  4. Also, sorry Kevin, Toren and Joe were on to what I meant about the women of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. It was a non-cognitive decision to jump rather than the force of air movement–even though we did mention that with regard to fire storms.