shrunken head (Q1130156)

specially prepared human head

head shrinking
tsantsa
tzantza

Language	Label	Description	Also known as
English	shrunken head	specially prepared human head	head shrinking tsantsa tzantza

Statements

subclass of

relic

0 references

has use

Nazi human experimentation

2 references

stated in

Nuremberg Trials Project

reference URL

https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/documents/2339-affidavit-concerning-the-buchenwald?q=Josef+Ackermann#p.1

quotation

Later, so called shrunker [sic] heads were also prepared, in the same way as they were prepared by the priests among the primitive peoples of South America. The head was severed from the trunk, opened by a slit in the back and all the soft parts removed, so that it could be filled with hot sand until the head shrank to the size of a large apple. These completely mummified heads were placed on wooden pedestals [sic] and used as sensational exhibits for the SS. This work was carried out by order of the leading physician in pathology, Dr. Hans Mueller. (English)

reference URL

https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/documents/2339-affidavit-concerning-the-buchenwald?q=Josef+Ackermann#p.4