Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims sue California museum over Nazi-looted art
Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum holds 16th-century paintings stolen by the Nazis during the second world war
TL;DR
- Heirs of Holocaust victims are suing for the return of Nazi-looted art from the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum.
- The lawsuits are the first to utilize new California and US Congress laws that empower claims to WWII-seized artwork.
- The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles filed a suit for Cranach's 'Adam and Eve' paintings against the Norton Simon Museum.
- Daughters of Holocaust survivor Dina Gottliebova Babbitt sued the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum for watercolors she was forced to paint.
- Both museums assert legal ownership and the right to display the artworks.
- The Nazi regime orchestrated one of history's largest art thefts, seizing over 600,000 works from Jewish families.
- The Jewish Federation plans to use proceeds from recovered art to support local Holocaust survivors.
- The Norton Simon Museum cites a 2018 federal court ruling affirming its title to the Cranach paintings.
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau museum argues the watercolors are vital historical documents of Mengele's experiments and should remain as evidence.