Dutch prosecutors have blocked the sale of a bar of soap which its owners claimed was made from the fat of Jewish people murdered at a Nazi death camp.

The owner attempted to sell the soap on the internet auction site eBay for €199 (£143). But as soon as the item went live, moderators removed it from sale.

Rumours - apparently started by the British - that the Nazis were mass-producing soap using the bodies of concentration camp victims first surfaced in the middle of the war.

An antiques salesman tried to sell soap, pictured, reportedly made from the fat of Jewish Holocaust victims

The man was seeking €199 for the bar of soap on the internet auction site eBay, pictured

The listing, pictured, was removed from eBay shortly after it was originally posted

Although the mass production claim was almost certainly untrue, there is evidence that it had happened on a small scale at least during the early stages of World War II.

The Nazis are known to have plundered human bodies for products, with hair used to make felt and insulation for example.

However, the German scientists who were believed to have experimented with making soap from human fat had almost certainly been stopped by SS-chief Heinrich Himmler who had ordered an investigation into the claims on November 20, 1942.

The unnamed antiquities vendor who tried to sell the soap handed himself into police to answer questions after the auction was cancelled.

He had also handed over the two bars of soap, which are now being examined to see if they do indeed contain traces of human remains.

Historian Arthur Haraf said the soap was one of a number of items found near the Dutch concentration camp Westerbork, from which Dutch Jews were sent to extermination camps.

The soap was reportedly made from the fat of Jewish victims of the Westerbork concentration camp, pictured

It is claimed that SS leader Heinrich Himmler, left, ordered Nazi scientists to stop working on human soap

Westerbork was a Nazi refugee, detention and transit camp in the town of Hooghalen, nine kilometres south of the city of Assen in the north-eastern Netherlands.

The other items had been dentures, tooth brushes and glasses, which he claimed were taken from the Jews at the concentration camp.

Haraf said: '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.'

Jewish organisations responded angrily at the news of the Dutch vendor. Spokesperson for the Dutch Jewish organisation CIDI, Ron Eisenman, said: 'It is saddening and disgusting to find out that there are people interested in gaining money from the Holocaust.'

He added: 'We can only watch and hope that collectors will use healthy logic and will not participate in these things.'

Historian Joel Stoffels also saw an advert last week selling Holocaust items and was shocked. He said: '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.'

The Chairman of the Centre for Jewish Debate, Jaap Fransman, also expressed his anger at the news, saying: 'The selling of these accessories and objects is not just distasteful but also crazy.'