A prominent European Jewish organization slammed a Munich auction house�s decision to sell several of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler�s handwritten speech notes, saying Tuesday it �defies logic, decency and humanity� to put them on the market.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said the upcoming sale of the manuscripts is particularly worrisome amid recent figures showing rising anti-Semitism in Germany, and could encourage neo-Nazis.

�I cannot get my head around the sheer irresponsibility and insensitivity, in such a febrile climate, of selling items such as the ramblings of the world�s biggest killer of Jews to the highest bidder,� he said in a statement. �What auctions like this do help legitimize Hitler enthusiasts who thrive on this sort of stuff.�

The speech notes being offered, all dated before World War II, are directed to Nazi-party organizations and contributors at various functions, and make reference to preparing Germany for war and the �Jewish problem,� said Bernhard Pacher, the managing director of the Hermann Historica auction house where they go on sale Friday.

He defended the sale, saying the papers belong in a museum or in the hands of researchers as historical documents.

�These are handwritten notes from Adolf Hitler, where if you analyze what he wrote … you can prove he was publicly speaking about going to war, about �resolving the Jewish problem,�� Pacher told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

�If we destroy these things and they do not go into a museum for experts to work on them, you will leave the interpretation of what was happening to the right-wing Nazi apologists, who will say Hitler never said that. The man was preparing the Germans that there would be a war and those who didn�t want to see that must have been totally blind � it�s in there.�

The auction house has come under fire in the past for its sale of Nazi-era items, and maintains it goes to great lengths to ensure that they are not being sold to neo-Nazis, and are usually bought by museums and research facilities.

In 2016, it auctioned off one of Hitler�s uniforms for 275,000 euros ($325,000) and previously sold a typewriter and dozens of other items owned by the Nazi leader, among other things.

Perhaps most famously, last year a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul purchased Hitler�s top hat, a silver-plated edition of �Mein Kampf� and other items the auction house offered in order to keep them out of the hands of neo-Nazis, and donated them to a Jewish group.

The auction house has also dealt in many other items owned by famous historical figures, including Napoleon Bonaparte�s silver and gold-plated toothbrush, a sabre that belonged to British naval hero Adm. Horatio Nelson, and a sword that once belonged to famed Italian seducer Giacomo Casanova.

Margolin called the businessman�s intervention to purchase the items last year �a miracle,� but said �we cannot rely on miracles going forwards� and urged the auction house to pull the speeches from the upcoming sale.

�It defies logic, decency and humanity for the very same auction house that came under fire less than a year ago for selling disgusting lots of Nazi memorabilia that they should do so again,� he said.

Starting prices for the speech notes range between 2,500 euros and 7,500 euros ($3,000-8,800), which Pacher said is a deterrent in and of itself to them being purchased by right-wing extremists.

�For neo-Nazi purposes, you don�t spend 10,000 on these things, you get yourself a copy,� he said.

(AP)