Key facts
- Jewish heirs have filed lawsuits in California to reclaim Nazi-looted art from museums.
- The lawsuits follow the passage of laws strengthening claims for art seized during WWII.
- The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles sued the Norton Simon Museum for 'Adam and Eve' paintings.
- Dina Gottliebova Babbitt's daughters sued the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum for watercolors she was forced to paint.
- Both museums assert legal title to the artworks and intend to keep them on display.
Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims have initiated legal action in California to reclaim artworks forcibly taken by the Nazi regime. Two lawsuits were filed on Monday, marking the first such actions following recent legislative changes in California and the US Congress that bolster claims for Nazi-looted art.
One suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair Daniel Gryczman, seeks the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's 1530 oil-on-panel masterpieces, 'Adam and Eve,' from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The Jewish Federation is acting on behalf of Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose collection was seized by Hermann Göring.
The second lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, was brought by the daughters of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and animator. They are demanding the return of watercolors depicting fellow prisoners, which Babbitt was compelled to paint for Nazi physician Josef Mengele while held at Auschwitz. The Auschwitz-Birkenau museum is named as the defendant.
Spokespersons for both the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum stated that they legally hold title to the disputed works and intend to continue public display. The lawsuits do not specify a monetary value for the artworks.
The Norton Simon Museum noted that a federal court in 2018 had unanimously determined the museum's proper title to the Cranach paintings, a decision the US Supreme Court declined to review in May 2019. The museum stated the paintings, originally belonging to the Stroganoff family and purchased by Goudstikker at a 1931 Soviet auction, were later sold to the museum by a Stroganoff descendant and have been on view for nearly 50 years.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesperson for the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, argued that the watercolors, documenting Mengele's experiments on Roma victims, must remain at the memorial as unique historical documents. He contended they should not be classified as 'Nazi-looted art' as they were created under duress, and their loss would cause irreparable harm to the memory of the victims.