New Laws Fuel Legal Battles Over Nazi-Looted Art

Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims have filed two lawsuits in California, initiating legal challenges for Nazi-looted paintings housed in prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz. These legal actions mark the first filings since the recent passage of laws in California and at the federal level, which bolster U.S.-based claims for artworks forcibly seized from Jewish families during World War II.

One lawsuit, lodged in Los Angeles Superior Court, names the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena as the defendant, demanding the return of "Adam and Eve," two oil-on-panel masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1530. This suit was brought by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair, Daniel Gryczman. The second lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles the same day, was brought by the daughters of Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and California-based animator. This suit seeks the return of watercolors depicting fellow prisoners, which Babbitt was compelled to paint for Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician.

Spokespersons for both museums assert that they hold legal title to the works and intend to continue public display. The lawsuits do not specify the monetary value of the disputed artworks.

The issue of Nazi-looted art is described as an emotionally charged and complex legal and ethical matter, creating a tension between Jewish families who have experienced intergenerational trauma and museums dedicated to preserving historical artifacts. Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime orchestrated a vast art theft across Europe, seizing an estimated 600,000 artworks from Jewish individuals and institutions.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, stated that the federation plans to allocate most of the net proceeds from any recovered art to assist approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors in the Los Angeles area. Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose collection was among those plundered, has assigned her rights to the federation. The Cranach paintings were seized from Goudstikker's collection by Hermann Göring, later sold through various hands, and acquired by the museum in the 1960s.

California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who authored Assembly Bill 2867 signed into law in September 2024, explained that the legislation ensures state law applies to lawsuits by California residents or their heirs seeking recovery of art seized during the Holocaust or other acts of persecution. This law was a response to a federal court ruling that permitted the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid to retain a Camille Pissarro painting, originally confiscated from the Cassirer family in 1939. Gabriel indicated that museums should consider their historical position as this legislation moves forward.

The Norton Simon Museum stated that a federal court had unanimously determined in 2018 that the museum held proper title to the Cranach paintings, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review in May 2019. The museum contends the paintings, originally belonging to the Stroganoff family, were illicitly auctioned by the Soviet Union in 1931 and purchased by Goudstikker. After an intricate provenance, the museum acquired them from a Stroganoff descendant, subsequently restoring and preserving the pieces. They have been on public display at the museum for nearly 50 years.

Pawel Sawicki, a spokesperson for the Auschwitz Memorial, argued that the watercolors painted by Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt while she was a prisoner, documenting Mengele's experiments, should remain at the Memorial. He stated these works are not to be mischaracterized as looted art, as Babbitt did not own them and painted them under duress. Sawicki emphasized that these portraits are crucial documents of Mengele's crimes and their loss would cause irreparable harm to the historical record of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Joel Greenberg, founder of the nonprofit Art Ashes, noted that in addition to California's law, the federal Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025, signed into law, permanently removes the statute of limitations for Holocaust survivors and their heirs pursuing art recovery. This federal law allows families up to six years from the discovery of an artwork's possession to file a claim. Greenberg believes these new laws will allow cases to be heard on their merits, ensuring Jewish families have a fair process to determine ownership and that the stories of victims are not forgotten.