Two Lawsuits Seek Return of Nazi-Looted Art

Jewish heirs and Holocaust representatives have filed two lawsuits in California seeking the return of artworks held by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland and the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The daughters of Auschwitz survivor and artist Dina Gottliebova Babbitt are seeking seven watercolors she was forced to paint in 1944 for Nazi physician Josef Mengele, arguing that the works belong to her family and that the museum has refused to return them. Auschwitz officials maintain that the paintings were legally acquired and should remain on display as rare evidence of Mengele’s crimes and the persecution of Roma prisoners. In the separate case, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair are seeking the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder’s 16th-century diptych “Adam and Eve,” which was looted from a Jewish collection during World War II. Both museums say they hold legal title to the disputed works, while the lawsuits were enabled by recently strengthened California and federal protections for claims involving Nazi-looted art.