Auction urged to be cancelled

PARIS (AFP) - On Sunday, France's main Jewish body called for the cancellation of an auction of Adolf Hitler and Nazi air force chief Hermann Goering's personal effects, due to take place in Paris at the end of this month.

The umbrella organisation CRIF said the sale is planned for April 26 and it represents "a form of moral indecency" and disrespectful to "the victims of Nazi barbarism". CRIF asked the culture ministry to block the auction.

The objects and documents to be put under the hammer were brought back by French World War II fighters from the Bavarian Alps homes of the two Reich stalwarts in May 1945 after Hitler's mountaintop retreat was bombed by Allied planes.

They include Goering's passport, a monogrammed mat with the Nazi eagle belonging to Hitler bearing the letters "A. H.", plus a wooden chest presented to the Nazi leader and emblazoned with swastikas.

One of the older pieces is a 17th century manuscript presented to Goering in 1935. Another organisation, the National Office of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, had on Saturday called for a ban on what it said was an "obscene" auction.