Lawsuits filed over Nazi-looted art displayed in museums in Los Angeles, Auschwitz
Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime orchestrated the largest art theft in world history, seizing over 600,000 works of art across Europe from Jewish families, collectors and museums.
Two lawsuits have been filed in California, one in Los Angeles Superior Court and the other in federal court, seeking the return of Nazi-looted art displayed in museums. The lawsuits were initiated by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the daughters of Holocaust survivor Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt. One lawsuit demands the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's "Adam and Eve," a pair of life-size oil-on-panel paintings, and the watercolors of fellow Auschwitz prisoners painted by Babbitt for Nazi physician Josef Mengele.
The other lawsuit addresses the return of the Cranach paintings. Both museums, Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and the Auschwitz Memorial, maintain they legally own the works and intend to continue displaying them. The lawsuits stem from recent California and federal laws strengthening U.S. claims to art forcibly taken from Jewish families during World War II.
The issue is highly charged, with Jewish families seeking justice while museums argue they are preserving important historical artifacts.
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