Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum houses 16th-century paintings that were stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. Jewish heirs of victims and their representatives have initiated two lawsuits to reclaim Nazi-looted paintings that currently hang in prominent museums in California and Poland.
These lawsuits represent the first legal actions filed following the recent enactment of legislation by California and the US Congress that strengthens the ability of US-based claimants to pursue artwork forcibly taken from Jewish families during the Second World War.
The Norton Simon Museum case
On Monday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair, Daniel Gryczman, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena seeking the return of a painting titled "Adam and Eve." The work consists of two life-size oil-on-panel masterpieces created by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1530. The paintings originally belonged to the Goudstikker collection, a Dutch Jewish art dealer's holdings that were seized by Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler's second-in-command. After passing through multiple hands, the works were sold during the 1960s to the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, which was later renamed the Norton Simon Museum in honor of its benefactor.
Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, stated that the organization intends to direct most of the net proceeds from any recovered artwork toward providing assistance to approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors currently residing in the Los Angeles area. Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, has assigned her rights to the federation. In a related development, an Argentine court recently ordered the return of another Nazi-looted 18th-century painting to von Saher, demonstrating ongoing international efforts to restore such works to their rightful heirs.
Von Saher released a statement expressing her gratitude to the Jewish organization for championing her family's claim.
This effort represents a meaningful step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi-era atrocities,she said.
What is the museum's position?
The Norton Simon Museum has asserted that it holds proper legal title to the Cranach paintings and intends to continue displaying them publicly. The museum cited a 2018 federal court decision that unanimously determined the institution possessed valid title to the works. In May 2019, the US Supreme Court declined to review the case, allowing lower court rulings to stand.
According to the museum's statement, the Cranach paintings originally belonged to the Stroganoff family and were placed on sale in 1931 by the Soviet Union through an illicit auction held in Berlin, where Goudstikker purchased them. Following a complex chain of ownership, the paintings were eventually sold to the museum by a Stroganoff family descendant. The institution has since undertaken restoration and preservation efforts on the pieces.
For nearly 50 years, they have been on view at the Norton Simon Museum and will continue to be accessible to the public for years to come,the museum stated.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau case
The second lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles on the same day by the daughters of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a Holocaust survivor and California-based animator who was imprisoned in Auschwitz. The lawsuit demands the return of watercolor paintings of fellow prisoners that Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to create for Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician known as the "Angel of Death," from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum in Poland.
Pawel Sawicki, a spokesperson for the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, argued that the watercolors depicting Roma victims must remain in the memorial to document Mengele's horrific experiments and racial research. He contended that these paintings should not be characterized as "Nazi-looted art" because Gottliebova Babbitt created them under duress as a prisoner and therefore never held ownership of the works.
While acknowledging the family's perspective, Sawicki emphasized that the portraits of Roma and Sinti victims represent among the few surviving documents of Mengele's criminal experiments and should be preserved as unique historical records related to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
While fully respecting the rights of people who created some of the documents here, we are of the opinion that any loss in the collections of the memorial will constitute irreparable harm,he said.
The loss of even the smallest part of the documentation is an irreparable loss and blemish on the memory of the victims of Auschwitz.
The broader context of Nazi art theft
The question of Nazi-looted art represents a deeply complex issue that is emotionally, legally and ethically charged. It pits Jewish families who have endured intergenerational trauma against museums that argue they are preserving a painful yet historically significant chapter of human experience.
Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime perpetrated the largest art theft in world history, confiscating more than 600,000 works of art across Europe from Jewish families, private collectors and museums. Decades after the war's conclusion, numerous stolen masterpieces remain housed in prominent museums worldwide, transforming the recovery effort into something far more intricate than a straightforward property dispute.
The scale of Nazi art plundering reflects the systematic nature of Nazi persecution and theft. The recovery of these works has become an ongoing international endeavor, with courts and institutions grappling with competing claims of historical preservation, justice for victims' families, and institutional authority. Each case presents unique circumstances that complicate resolution, as demonstrated by the contrasting arguments presented by the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial.
Key Facts
- Two lawsuits were filed in Los Angeles on the same day following new legislation strengthening US-based claims to Nazi-looted artwork
- The Norton Simon Museum case involves two Lucas Cranach the Elder paintings from 1530 originally seized from Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker's collection
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau case concerns watercolor paintings created by Holocaust survivor Dina Gottliebova Babbitt under coercion by Nazi physician Josef Mengele
- Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime stole more than 600,000 artworks from Jewish families, collectors and museums across Europe
- The lawsuits do not specify monetary values for the disputed paintings
