'Goering' Nazi uniform in Plymouth shop 'should be burnt' Published duration 7 April 2015 Related Topics World War Two

image caption The uniform is claimed to have once belonged to Hermann Goering

A uniform claimed to have belonged to Nazi Hermann Goering should be burned and not sold, Jewish leaders have said.

The uniform is on sale for £85,000 at Parade Antiques in Plymouth - a city that Goering's Luftwaffe planes bombed extensively in World War Two.

Jonathan Arkush, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the sale was "repellent".

Shop owner John Cabello said the item was a reminder of Nazi atrocities and did not glorify them.

Goering was one of the most senior politicians in Nazi Germany and a close confidante of Hitler.

image caption The uniform shows sweat stains which the owner says suggests it came from overweight Goering

Mr Cabello said he bought the uniform at auction from a private Swiss museum.

Sweat blemishes and fraying on buttons and buckles are a sign that it belonged to overweight Goering, he said.

image caption The uniform was bought at auction by the Plymouth shop owner

Mr Arkush said: "Anything that tends to glorify a regime that was guilty of murder on an industrial scale is absolutely anathema to a civilized society and the owner of this artefact would do us all a favour if he would just burn it."

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, senior rabbi to the Movement for Reform Judaism: "It will be shown off as an item with an ideological message, the very last one we want to promote as British people who fought the Nazis."

Mr Cabello said: "I see both sides of the argument.

"You can see the historical side without being sucked into the political side of it."

Hermann Goering

image copyright Getty Images image caption Goering took his own life the night before he was due to be executed

Hermann Goering became responsible for the Luftwaffe, the German air force, in 1935.

Until the final days of the war, Goering was named as Hitler's successor in the event of the Nazi leader's death.

He was captured shortly after the end of the war in 1945, with large quantities of looted art.

After the war he was found guilty at the Nuremberg Trials, where he was the most senior politician on trial. He was sentenced to be hanged but took his own life by poisoning himself on 14 October 1946, the night before he was due to be executed.

Source: BBC History

Mr Cabello said he was "completely certain" that the uniform was not artificially aged and had been worn by Goering.

But World War Two historian Dr Helen Fry said any buyer should be "sceptical" about the uniform's provenance.

"Goering was under the command of the Americans after he was captured and it's quite hard to imagine something like that coming from him," she said.