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The Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Photo: dpa
Harvard University has removed human skin from the cover of one of its books. The university library in Cambridge (US state of Massachusetts) announced on Wednesday that she was now in the process of conducting further research into the book and the anonymous patient whose skin was used for the cover. They will consult with the relevant authorities "to determine a final, respectful site for these human remains."
The book also made headlines in Germany in 2014 when an investigation revealed that it was bound in human skin. It is a copy of "Des destinées de l'âme" (in German: On the fate of the soul), which the French writer Arsène Houssaye first published in 1879, according to the library.
The first owner of the book was a French doctor. He bound the book with skin "that he had taken without consent from the body of a deceased patient in the hospital where he worked," the university library said in a statement. According to her, the book has been in the library collections since 1934.
After a careful examination, it was concluded that the human remains used for the book cover no longer belong in the library collections, it said. As justification, the library referred, among other things, to the “ethically questionable origins of the book.”
She admitted that she had made mistakes in the past when dealing with the book. These would have further objectified and impaired the dignity of the person concerned. "We apologize to those who were harmed by these actions."
swe/dpa