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New Holocaust Restitution Laws Prompt Two Lawsuits Demanding Return of Nazi-Looted Art

Shiryn Ghermezian

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A drone view of the “Arbeit macht frei” gate at the former Auschwitz concentration camp ahead of the 80th anniversary of its liberation, Oswiecim, Poland, Jan. 10, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Two lawsuits filed in California on Monday demand prominent museums to return Nazi-looted artwork to the heirs of its rightful owners, following the passing of two laws supporting US-based claims for items stolen during the Holocaust.

One lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the daughters of Auschwitz survivor Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, who was forced to paint for Nazi physician and war criminal Josef Mengele. Her daughters are suing the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland and demanding the return of seven watercolor paintings Babbitt was forced to paint of fellow Auschwitz prisoners. At least six of the seven watercolors are signed and dated by the artist “Dinah 1944,” according to the lawsuit. Babbitt survived the Holocaust and lived in California until her death in 2009. She worked for nearly 20 years as an animation assistant for Hollywood studios including MGM and Warner Bros.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum has repeatedly refused to return the paintings to the Holocaust survivor or her daughters even after admitting that she was the artist, according to the lawsuit. Babbitt’s daughters are asking for the return of their mother’s artwork as well as monetary damages under California law against the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum for its refusal to return the paintings for decades.

The Auschwitz Memorial previously said that the artworks, which they claim were “purchased legally and in good faith” in the 1960s, “should remain in the museum as part of the camp heritage and as documentation of the criminal activities of Dr. Mengele.”

Also filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court was a lawsuit by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its Board Chair Daniel Gryczman against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. The federation is asking the museum to return “Adam and Eve,” a pair of life-sized 16th-century masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder that were stolen by Nazi leader Hermann Göring from prominent Dutch Jewish art dealer and collector Jacques Goudstikker in 1940. When Goudstikker fled the Netherlands soon after the Nazi invasion in May 1940 with his family, his entire art collection was confiscated by the Nazis.

The “Adam and Eve” paintings were later recovered by Allied forces after World War II and given to the Dutch government, before eventually being sold to the Norton Simon Museum. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has promised to use the majority of the net proceeds from the recovered art to provide financial assistance for impoverished Holocaust survivors living in the Los Angeles area. The Norton Simon Art Foundation had said previous courts ruled that the foundation “does in fact hold proper legal title” to the paintings.

The lawsuits argue that their claims should be considered because of two new laws, one passed by California lawmakers in 2024 and the other signed into law by US President Donald Trump earlier this year.

California Code of Civil Procedure Section 338.2 states that California residents can take legal action for the restitution of artwork or other personal property that was “taken or otherwise lost as a result of political persecution.” The law specifies that legal ownership of the stolen item cannot be transferred and its rightful owners do not lose their right to own the item.

The law was created as part of Assembly Bill 2867, which declared: “It is the intent of the Legislature to align California law with federal laws, policies, and international agreements, which prohibit pillage and seizure of works of art and cultural property, and call for restitution of seized property.”

The bill was passed unanimously by both the Assembly and Senate, and signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024. Section 338.2 gives California residents two years, from the date of their filed claim, to recover the stolen art.

The nonprofit organization Art Ashes spearheaded efforts that led to the passage of the 2025 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act in the US Congress. It passed the US House and Senate unanimously, and was signed into law by Trump in April.

When advocating for the 2025 HEAR Act before the Congress, Art Ashes founder Joel Greenberg said the law was vital “not only because of the justice it would serve for individual families, but because the law will help foster accurate documentation of the true horrors of the Holocaust, and serve as an important force to combat the explosion of antisemitism and Holocaust denial here and around the world.”

“Looting art and other assets from Jewish families was an essential part of Hitler’s plan to annihilate the Jewish people, and eradicate all traces of Jewish life and culture,” Greenberg said. “Museums’ insistence on keeping artworks taken in the Holocaust perpetuates the crimes of the Nazi regime, and demeans the memory of six million Jewish souls. The people of California should be proud that their lawmakers, acting in concert with US treaties, laws, policies, and international agreements, have drawn the bright lines in Section 338.2, and will not allow this to happen.”

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