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 . ' The Public Prosecution Service which is dealing with the case has declined to make any statements so far while they await the results of the test on the soap .
The listing sought €199 for the bar of soap reportedly made from 'fat ' It was claimed victims of the Westerbork concentration camp in Assen . The Nazis are believed to have experimented with the soap during the war . SS leader Heinrich Himmler is reported to have stopped the experiments .