France's Jewish groups called Sunday for an auction of the personal effects of Adolf Hitler and Nazi air force chief Hermann Goering in Paris next month to be cancelled.

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The CRIF, an umbrella organisation uniting France's Jewish groups, said the sale was "a form of moral indecency" and disrespectful to "the victims of Nazi barbarism".

It asked the culture ministry to block the sale, planned for April 26.

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 erstwhile Nazi leaders in May 1945 after Hitler's mountaintop retreat was bombed by Allied planes.

The items include Goering's passport, a monogrammed mat with the Nazi eagle once belonging to Hitler bearing the initials A.H., and a wooden chest once 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.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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