Nazi memorabilia owned by Adolf Hitler and air force chief Hermann Göring have been withdrawn from a French auction following objections from two Jewish groups, Art Daily reports. Forty Nazi items were to have gone under the hammer on April 26th at the auction organized by the Vermot de Pas auction house in Paris.
The items include Göring’s passport and a mat adorned with the Nazi eagle and monogrammed with Hitler’s initials. According to the auction house, the items were pillaged from Hitler’s mountaintop retreat in the Bavarian Alps by French soldiers in May of 1945.
French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti described the decision as “necessary in the light of history and morality.”