New Laws Reignite Fight for Nazi-Looted Art in California Museums
New Laws Reignite Fight for Nazi-Looted Art in California Museums
Jewish heirs are taking legal action in California to reclaim WWII Nazi-looted masterpieces from prominent museums. New laws strengthen claims, aiming for justice for Holocaust victims.
A fresh legal battle has erupted in California, as Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims are filing lawsuits to reclaim art stolen by Nazis during World War II. These legal actions target prominent institutions, including the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and involve artworks linked to the Auschwitz museum.
These lawsuits are significant as they are the first to emerge following the recent passage of strengthening laws by both California and the U.S. Congress. These new legislations aim to make it easier for U.S.-based claimants to recover art forcibly taken from Jewish families between 1933 and 1945.
One lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair Daniel Gryczman, seeks the return of “Adam and Eve.” These two life-size oil-on-panel masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1530) are currently held by the Norton Simon Museum. Separately, in federal court in Los Angeles, the daughters of the late Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and animator forced to paint for Josef Mengele at Auschwitz, are demanding the return of her watercolors depicting fellow prisoners.
Representatives for both museums assert they legally hold titles to the works and plan to continue displaying them to the public. The monetary value of the paintings is not specified in the lawsuits.
The issue of Nazi-looted art is deeply emotional, legally complex, and ethically charged.
It pits families grappling with inter-generational trauma against museums that often argue they are preserving a painful but important chapter of history. During the Nazi regime, an estimated 600,000 works of art were stolen across Europe from Jewish families, collectors, and museums.
Decades later, many of these masterpieces remain in public collections worldwide, making their recovery a complicated endeavor.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, highlighted the organization's commitment. The federation now holds the rights of Marei von Saher, sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose collection was seized by Hermann Göring.
Farkas stated that the federation plans to use most of the net proceeds from recovered art to support approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors living in the Los Angeles area.
It's our honor to take on this role on behalf of the community and use most of the proceeds to help these elderly survivors live out the last years of their lives in dignity, comfort and peace, something their family members were denied during the Holocaust,
he said.
Marei von Saher expressed gratitude, calling the effort “a meaningful step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi era atrocities.”
The new legislation, California Assembly Bill 2867, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024, mandates that state law apply to lawsuits brought by California residents or their heirs seeking to recover Holocaust-era art.
This bill was introduced by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, in response to a federal court ruling that had allowed a Spanish museum to retain a Camille Pissarro masterpiece with a similar provenance.
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