Bars of soap allegedly made from the fat of murdered Jewish prisoners by Nazis in a Dutch concentration camp have been removed from being listed for sale on eBay and are being examined by Dutch police to determine if they contain human remains.
The soap was offered by an unnamed seller of military memorabilia for $215, but eBay removed the item from sale,
the Daily Mail reported.
Police in the Dutch town of Dokkum said in a statement Friday they are investigating the attempted sale and added: "It could be deduced that it may be soap made in World War II concentration camps that could contain remains of dead Jews,
Town Hall reported.
The soap is said to have originated near the Westerbork concentration camp in Hooghalen, from which Jews were sent to extermination camps, the Daily Mail reported.
Historian Arthur Haraf told the Daily Mail: "This is a terrible act and against the law. Whatever is found near the concentration camp and belongs to the events of World War II automatically becomes property of the Westerbork Memorial Museum," which also includes other memorabilia from the camp, including dentures, brushes, and glasses confiscated from the inmates.
Several prominent Jewish spokesmen blasted eBay, including Ron Eisenman, spokesman for the Dutch Jewish group CIDI, who told the Daily Mail: "It is saddening and disgusting to find out that there are people interested in gaining money from the Holocaust. We can only watch and hope that collectors will use healthy logic and will not participate in these things."
Historian Joel Stoffels commented: "I was amazed to see it. All of these objects are supposed to be displayed in a respectable way and now they are being displayed as merchandise."
One of Westerbork's most famous prisoners was
Anne Frank, who was first sent to Auschwitz and later died from typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
It's not the first time eBay has come under fire for selling Holocaust memorabilia. In 2013, it was found eBay had listed for sale former Star of David armbands and clothing from concentration camp victims.
In all, 30 items were removed and eBay spokesman Steve Haywood
told CNN: "We don't allow listings of this nature, and dedicate thousands of staff to policing our site and use the latest technology to detect items that shouldn't be for sale. We very much regret that we didn't live up to our own standards. We have made a donation to charity to reflect our concern."
EBay policy states: "We don't allow items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance, or promote organizations with such views."
Currently, there are more than 1,700 items related to the Holocaust, mostly photographs,
listed for sale on eBay.
Rabbi Steven Berg of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told CBS: "Things that came from the Holocaust should not be for sale on eBay. They should not just be out there. They have to be preserved."
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