Nazi Loot Claims Test Expired California Law Against Norton Simon and Auschwitz Museums
On September 14, two legal actions were initiated in California aimed at recovering art stolen by the Nazis, just prior to a 2024 law that permits such claims. These lawsuits are directed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland and the Norton Simon Museum located in Pasadena. The federal lawsuit in Los Angeles involves the descendants of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, who, in 1944, created seven portraits of Roma prisoners under the direction of Josef Mengele. Meanwhile, the state lawsuit seeks the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's diptych Adam and Eve (circa 1530) from the Norton Simon Museum, which was taken in 1940 by Hermann Göring. The museum asserts it has rightful ownership, with responses anticipated by mid-October and mid-November from the respective institutions.
Key facts
- Two Nazi-looted art claims were filed in California courts on 14 September, two days before the expiration of a 2024 California statute.
- The federal lawsuit in the US District Court in Los Angeles seeks the return of seven portraits of Roma prisoners painted by Dina Gottliebova Babbitt in 1944 at Auschwitz.
- The portraits were created on the orders of Josef Mengele, who selected Roma subjects to document purported racial inferiority.
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum argues the watercolours are unique evidence of crimes against Roma and Sinti and must remain at the memorial.
- The state lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks the return of Adam and Eve (around 1530) by Lucas Cranach the Elder from the Norton Simon Museum.
- The diptych was among over 800 works stolen in June 1940 by Hermann Göring from the gallery of Jacques Goudstikker.
- A prior 11-year court battle by Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law ended in 2018 when the Ninth Circuit dismissed it under the act of state doctrine.
- The 2024 California law and the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (Hear) Act of 2026 deny the act of state defence to current owners in Nazi-looted art claims.
Entities
Artists
- Dina Gottliebova Babbitt
- Josef Mengele
- Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Jacques Goudstikker
- Hermann Göring
- George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff
- Marei von Saher
- Adolf Hitler
- Daniel Gryczman
- Rabbi Noah Farkas
- Pawel Sawicki
Institutions
- Norton Simon Museum of Art
- Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
- Norton Simon Art Foundation
- US District Court in Los Angeles
- Los Angeles Superior Court
- Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- The Art Newspaper
- Norton Simon Museum
- Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
- Auschwitz-Birkenau museum
- Los Angeles superior court
- US supreme court
- Pasadena Museum of Modern Art
- AP
Locations
- California
- United States
- Pasadena
- Poland
- Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Los Angeles
- Netherlands
- Czech Republic
- Auschwitz
- Europe
- Berlin
- Germany
- Soviet Union