New Lawsuits Demand Auschwitz-Birkenau and Norton Simon Museums Return Nazi-Looted Art

The legal fate of Nazi-looted art now hinges on a highly specific procedural mechanism: choice-of-law provisions. Historically, museums successfully defended their possession of stolen masterpieces by relying on foreign statutes of limitations and property doctrines that recognized the transfer of stolen goods. But a pair of lawsuits filed this week in Los Angeles bypass those traditional defenses entirely, utilizing new California and federal legislation that mandates the application of local laws—which explicitly refuse to recognize the legal transfer of title by thieves.[1][4]

The twin lawsuits, filed on Monday, represent the first major test of these legislative interventions. In Los Angeles Superior Court, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles is suing the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena for the return of "Adam and Eve," a life-size 1530 diptych by German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. Simultaneously, a federal lawsuit targets the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland, demanding the return of seven watercolors painted by a Jewish inmate under extreme duress.[1][2][3]

The Norton Simon case centers on the vast collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch Jewish art dealer who fled the Netherlands in May 1940 following the Nazi invasion. His entire inventory was subsequently confiscated, with the Cranach diptych falling into the hands of Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler's second-in-command.[2][4]

After World War II, Allied forces recovered the paintings and returned them to the Dutch government. However, rather than returning them to Goudstikker's heirs, the government eventually sold the diptych to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a Russian aristocrat, in the 1960s. The Norton Simon Museum then purchased the works from him in 1971 for $800,000.[1][4]

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Marei von Saher, Goudstikker's sole surviving heir, previously sued the Norton Simon in 2007. That decade-long legal battle ended in 2018 when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the museum, determining that the court could not invalidate the Dutch government's postwar sale. Von Saher has now assigned her claim to the Jewish Federation, which has pledged to use the majority of any proceeds to support impoverished Holocaust survivors in the Los Angeles area.[4][5]

"By pursuing the recovery of the Cranachs, we are seeking to reverse a great injustice perpetrated by the Nazi theft of a Jewish family's property," Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said in a statement. Farkas emphasized that the action would secure resources to help survivors "live in dignity for the remainder of their lives."[1][4]

The second lawsuit brings a deeply personal dimension to the restitution fight. Michele Babbitt Kane and Karin Wendy Babbitt are suing for the return of seven watercolors painted by their mother, Dina Gottliebova Babbitt. While imprisoned at the Auschwitz death camp in 1944, Dina was discovered to have artistic talent and was ordered by Dr. Josef Mengele—the notorious "Angel of Death"—to paint portraits of Roma prisoners for his pseudoscientific racial studies.[1][2]

According to the federal complaint, Dina complied with the horrific assignment on the strict condition that Mengele spare her and her mother from the gas chambers. She survived the Holocaust, eventually settling in California where she worked as an animator for Hollywood studios until her death in 2009. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial has held the signed watercolors for decades, acknowledging Dina as the artist but refusing to relinquish the physical works.[1][2]

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Both museums maintain that they are the rightful custodians of the contested items. The Norton Simon Art Foundation noted that previous litigation, which the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review, confirmed its proper title to the Cranach paintings. "We will continue to make these important artworks accessible to the public, as we have since 1971," the museum stated.[1][4]

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial similarly defends its retention of the Babbitt watercolors. Paweł Sawicki, a spokesperson for the memorial, told the Los Angeles Times that the paintings "must remain in the Memorial as part of the documentation of the crimes of Mengele," arguing that the works are essential historical evidence of the atrocities committed at the camp.[1][2]

The viability of both claims now rests entirely on Assembly Bill 2867, signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2024, and the federal Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025. AB 2867 explicitly grants California residents a two-year window to sue for the return of art lost through political persecution, mandating that California substantive law—which heavily favors original owners over subsequent buyers of stolen goods—must apply.[1][5]

By stripping away the procedural defenses that have historically shielded institutions from restitution claims, these laws force courts to evaluate the cases on their fundamental merits. If the plaintiffs succeed, the rulings will not only redistribute millions of dollars in cultural heritage but fundamentally rewrite the rules of engagement for the estimated hundreds of thousands of Nazi-looted artworks that remain unrestituted worldwide.[1][3]