Heirs of Holocaust Victims Sue LA Museums Over Looted Art
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the daughters of a Holocaust survivor filed two separate lawsuits in California on Monday, targeting Nazi-era paintings held by the Norton Simon Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial.
- 2 oil-on-panel masterpieces by Lucas Cranach the Elder, dated 1530, are at issue in the Norton Simon case.
- Over 600,000 works were seized across Europe by the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.
- About 2,500 Holocaust survivors currently live in the Los Angeles area.
- A federal court in 2018 unanimously ruled Norton Simon held valid title to the Cranach paintings.
Why it matters: California's Assembly Bill 2867, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2024, requires state law to apply when California residents or heirs sue to recover Holocaust-era art. A parallel federal law broadens those claims nationally.
- Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel wrote AB 2867 after a federal ruling let the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid keep a Pissarro painting taken from the Cassirer family in 1939.
- Rabbi Noah Farkas said proceeds from any recovery would fund services for Los Angeles-area Holocaust survivors.
How 6 sources split on this story
Where they split: The core dispute is whether the paintings are historical documents requiring institutional preservation or property that should be returned to the families from whom they were taken.
Center coverage, 2 sources: The center presents the lawsuits as a consequential legal test of new legislation, detailing both sides' positions without a pronounced moral emphasis.
Left coverage, 2 sources: The left frames the lawsuits as a long-overdue step toward justice for Holocaust survivors and their heirs, emphasizing the human and moral dimensions of restitution.
What’s next: The Cassirer family's Pissarro case, which prompted AB 2867, is expected in federal court in California next month.
- Norton Simon Museum said the works will remain on public display pending the litigation.
- Whether the new California law can override the 2018 federal ruling that gave Norton Simon clear title to the Cranach paintings.
- Whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction to compel the Polish Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial, a foreign institution, to return the Gottliebova Babbitt watercolors.
- How courts will weigh the Auschwitz memorial's argument that the watercolors are historical documents rather than looted property.