Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims have filed two landmark lawsuits in California seeking the return of Nazi-era artworks from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland. Enabled by recent California and federal legislative changes that eliminate technical defenses and statute-of-limitations barriers, the plaintiffs demand the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's 1530 masterpieces "Adam and Eve" and watercolor portraits painted under duress for Josef Mengele. Both museums assert legal title and intend to keep the works on public display.
Nazi-looted art lawsuits
- ▪Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime orchestrated the theft of over 600,000 works of art across Europe from Jewish families, collectors, and museums.
- ▪The two California lawsuits filed on September 14, 2026, are the first legal actions brought under newly passed California and federal laws that strengthen claims to Nazi-looted art.
- ▪Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives filed two lawsuits in California on September 14, 2026, seeking the return of Nazi-looted paintings displayed in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.
California restitution law changes
- ▪California Assembly Bill 2867, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2024, mandates that California state law must apply in lawsuits brought by state residents or heirs to recover art seized during the Holocaust.
- ▪California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel introduced Assembly Bill 2867 in response to a federal court ruling that allowed the state-owned Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid to keep a Camille Pissarro painting taken from the Cassirer family in 1939.
- ▪The federal Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025, signed by President Donald Trump, permanently eliminated statute-of-limitations deadlines, allowing heirs up to six years to pursue recovery from the point they identify the possessor.
Norton Simon Museum claim
- ▪Marei von Saher, the sole heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker from whom Hermann Göring seized the "Adam and Eve" paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, assigned her legal rights to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
- ▪The Norton Simon Museum stated that a federal court in 2018 unanimously ruled the museum held proper title to the Cranach paintings, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case in May 2019.
- ▪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 for the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's 1530 paintings "Adam and Eve."
Auschwitz watercolor portraits claim
- ▪Auschwitz Memorial spokesperson Pawel Sawicki stated that the watercolor portraits of Roma and Sinti victims painted by Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt must remain at the Auschwitz Memorial as unique historical documentation of Josef Mengele's criminal experiments
- ▪The daughters of the late Holocaust survivor and animator Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles demanding the return of watercolor portraits their mother was forced to paint for Nazi physician Josef Mengele at Auschwitz.
- ▪Auschwitz Memorial spokesperson Pawel Sawicki argued that the watercolors should not be classified as "Nazi-looted art" because Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt painted them under duress as a prisoner and did not have technical ownership of them.
Holocaust survivor assistance funding
- ▪The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles plans to use most of the net proceeds from the "Adam and Eve" paintings, if recovered through its lawsuit against the Norton Simon Museum, to provide financial assistance to approximately 2,500 Holocaust survivors living in the Los Angeles area
- ▪Rabbi Noah Farkas stated that using the proceeds of the recovered "Adam and Eve" paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder to support elderly Holocaust survivors honors the community and allows survivors to live their final years in dignity
Museum ownership disputes
- ▪Spokespersons for both the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz Memorial stated that their institutions legally hold titles to the disputed artworks and intend to keep them on public display.
- ▪The lawsuits filed against the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz Memorial do not specify the monetary value of the disputed paintings.
Debatable claims
- ▪The Auschwitz Memorial should return Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt's watercolors to her heirs
- ▪The Norton Simon Museum should return the Cranach paintings to the Goudstikker heirs
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