Across the long arc of the twentieth century's darkest chapter, stolen beauty has remained a wound that law alone could not close — until now. Two lawsuits filed in California this week invoke newly strengthened state and federal statutes to press Jewish heirs' claims against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland, seeking the return of paintings seized or coerced by the Nazi regime. The cases — one involving Renaissance masterworks, the other watercolors painted under the shadow of Mengele — ask courts to weigh institutional preservation against the
Jewish heirs sue California museums over Nazi-looted art under new laws
Holocaust survivors and their heirs continue experiencing intergenerational trauma from Nazi art theft; approximately 2,500 survivors in Los Angeles area lack adequate support.
Justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi-era atrocities
Mark
Why are these lawsuits significant right now, when the paintings have been in these museums for decades?
Mimi
The new laws changed the legal landscape. California and Congress just passed legislation that strengthens claims to Nazi-looted art, removing barriers that previously made recovery nearly impossible. These are the first cases filed under those new rules.
Luke
But the Norton Simon case already went to federal court in 2018 and lost. The museum won. So what's actually different now?
Mimi
The new laws may create different legal grounds or extend timelines that were previously closed. That's what the federation is testing.
Mark
And the Auschwitz case—that seems even more complicated. The museum says those paintings are historical evidence of Mengele's crimes.
Mimi
Right. Babbitt was forced to paint them as a prisoner. Her daughters want them back. But the museum argues that keeping them documents what happened there.
Luke
So the museum is saying: these aren't really looted art because Babbitt never owned them as property. She was a prisoner forced to create them. Is that distinction legally sound?
Mimi
That's what the court will have to decide. It's a different kind of claim than the Cranach paintings, which were stolen from a collector.
Mark
What happens to the money if they win?
Mimi
The federation plans to use most of it to support Holocaust survivors in Los Angeles. There are about 2,500 living there now.
Luke
That's a real number—2,500 survivors. But we should note that the lawsuits don't specify what these paintings are worth, so we don't actually know what support that would mean.
Mark
Fair point. So this could set a precedent for other families and other museums?
Mimi
Potentially. There are hundreds of thousands of artworks still in museums worldwide that were seized during the Nazi era. These cases could open doors—or close them, depending on how courts rule.
Luke
And we should be clear: the museums aren't being accused of wrongdoing. They say they acquired these pieces legally. The question is whether the law now allows claims to go forward anyway.
The Pulse
- New California and federal laws have cracked open a legal door that statutes of limitations had long held shut, giving Jewish heirs their first real foothold in decades.
- The Norton Simon Museum is defending two Cranach masterpieces it has displayed for nearly fifty years, pointing to a 2018 federal ruling and a Supreme Court refusal to hear the case as proof of its legitimate title.
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau museum insists that watercolors Dina Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to paint for Mengele are irreplaceable historical evidence of Nazi crimes — not looted art — and that removing them would damage the memorial record.
- Behind the legal arguments stands an urgent human reality: approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors in Los Angeles lack adequate support, and any recovered proceeds are earmarked to reach them directly.
- The outcome of these two cases could set a global precedent, reshaping how courts and major institutions worldwide respond to the estimated 600,000 artworks the Nazi regime seized from Jewish families between 1933 and 1945.
Across the long arc of the twentieth century's darkest chapter, stolen beauty has remained a wound that law alone could not close — until now. Two lawsuits filed in California this week invoke newly strengthened state and federal statutes to press Jewish heirs' claims against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland, seeking the return of paintings seized or coerced by the Nazi regime. The cases — one involving Renaissance masterworks, the other watercolors painted under the shadow of Mengele — ask courts to weigh institutional preservation against the unfinished moral accounting of history's largest art theft. What is recovered, if anything, may do more than restore property: proceeds are intended to sustain the roughly 2,500 Holocaust survivors still living in Los Angeles, binding restitution to the living as much as to the dead.
Two lawsuits filed in California this week mark the first legal challenges brought under newly strengthened state and federal laws designed to help Jewish families reclaim artwork stolen by the Nazi regime. The cases target two very different institutions holding two very different kinds of works — and together they expose the unresolved moral ledger of the Second World War.
The first suit, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, pits the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. At its center are two life-sized oil paintings — Adam and Eve, created by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1530 — that passed through Soviet auction rooms, a Dutch Jewish art dealer named Jacques Goudstikker, and eventually into the Pasadena museum's collection. Goudstikker's sole heir, Marei von Saher, has assigned her rights to the Federation, which intends to direct most recovered proceeds toward the approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors currently living in the Los Angeles area.
The second lawsuit, filed the same day in federal court, concerns watercolors made by Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and animator who was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Josef Mengele compelled her to paint portraits of fellow prisoners in service of his criminal racial experiments. Her daughters are now seeking the works' return from the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum in Poland.
Both institutions have pushed back firmly. The Norton Simon Museum cited a 2018 federal ruling upholding its title to the Cranach paintings — a decision the Supreme Court declined to revisit — and emphasized that the works have been publicly displayed and carefully preserved for nearly fifty years. The Auschwitz-Birkenau museum argued that the watercolors are irreplaceable documentation of Mengele's crimes and that, because Babbitt painted them as a prisoner without ownership, they should not be classified as looted art at all.
The Nazi regime seized more than 600,000 artworks from Jewish families, collectors, and institutions between 1933 and 1945 — the largest art theft in recorded history. Many of those works remain in prominent collections worldwide. These two cases, shaped by new legislation that removes old legal barriers, may determine how courts and institutions reckon with that inheritance for years to come.
Two lawsuits filed in California this week represent the first legal challenges brought under newly strengthened state and federal laws designed to help Jewish families recover artwork stolen by the Nazi regime during the Second World War. The cases target paintings held by two institutions: the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, which houses two 16th-century masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum in Poland, which possesses watercolors painted under duress by a Holocaust survivor.
The first lawsuit was brought by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair, Daniel Gryczman, against the Norton Simon Museum on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. At stake are two life-sized oil paintings titled Adam and Eve, created by Cranach in 1530. The paintings originally belonged to the Stroganoff family before being sold by the Soviet Union in 1931 at an illicit auction in Berlin, where they were purchased by Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch Jewish art dealer. The works eventually made their way to the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, later renamed the Norton Simon Museum in honor of its major benefactor. Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Goudstikker's collection, has assigned her rights to the Jewish Federation, which plans to direct most proceeds from any recovered artwork toward supporting the approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors currently living in the Los Angeles area.
The second lawsuit, filed the same day in federal court in Los Angeles, concerns watercolors created by Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and California-based animator who was imprisoned at Auschwitz. Babbitt was forced by Josef Mengele, the Nazi physician known as the "Angel of Death," to paint portraits of fellow prisoners as part of his criminal experiments and racial research. Her daughters are now seeking the return of these works from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum. The lawsuits do not specify monetary values for any of the paintings.
Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime orchestrated what historians describe as the largest art theft in world history, seizing more than 600,000 works from Jewish families, collectors, and museums across occupied Europe. Decades later, many of these masterpieces remain in prominent institutions worldwide, transforming what might otherwise be a straightforward property dispute into a complex intersection of legal, ethical, and historical concerns. The new California and federal legislation has created an opening for heirs and representatives to pursue claims that were previously barred by statutes of limitations or other legal obstacles.
Both museums have responded by asserting their legal right to retain the works. The Norton Simon Museum pointed to a 2018 federal court decision that unanimously upheld the museum's title to the Cranach paintings, a ruling the U.S. Supreme Court declined to revisit in May 2019. The museum's statement emphasized that it has restored and preserved the paintings, which have been on public display for nearly fifty years and will remain accessible to visitors. Pawel Sawicki, a spokesperson for the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, argued that the watercolors must remain in the memorial's collection as irreplaceable documentation of Mengele's crimes. He contended that because Babbitt painted the works as a prisoner without ownership of them, they should not be classified as Nazi-looted art, and that their removal would constitute irreparable harm to the historical record of the camp.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, framed the lawsuit as a step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi-era atrocities. Von Saher, in a statement, expressed gratitude to the federation for pursuing her family's claim. The tension between these positions—museums defending their curatorial and preservation missions against families seeking restitution and support for survivors—will likely shape how courts and institutions approach similar claims in the coming years.
Notable Quotes
This effort represents a meaningful step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi-era atrocities.— Marei von Saher, heir of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker
The loss of even the smallest part of the documentation is an irreparable loss and blemish on the memory of the victims of Auschwitz.— Pawel Sawicki, spokesperson for Auschwitz-Birkenau museum
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Crime & Justice