The new attempt to recover the paintings comes in the wake of a 2024 California law giving state residents a two-year window to sue for the return of art works lost through political persecution.<\/p>\n
The statute applies to previously unsuccessful lawsuits to recover Nazi-looted art works in federal court and it requires the use of California law, which unlike some foreign laws, doesn\u2019t recognize legal transfer of title by art thieves.<\/p>\n
Goudstikker, one of the most prominent and important Old Masters art dealers in the Netherlands, had to flee in May 1940 with his wife and one-year-old son a boat after the German invasion and takeover of the country.<\/p>\n
Much of his collection, including the Cranach diptych, was seized by Hermann G\u00f6ring, Adolf Hitler\u2019s second-in-command.<\/p>\n
Although Goudstikker\u2019s widow was able to recover part of the collection after the war, her acrimonious settlement with the Dutch government in 1952 didn\u2019t include the works stolen by G\u00f6ring, which remained in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
The Dutch government sold the Cranach paintings to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a member of the Russian noble family, who wrongfully claimed the paintings belonged to his family.<\/p>\n
In later proceedings with the Dutch government, von Saher was able to recover another 200 works of art from her father-in-law\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n
The Norton Simon bought the Cranach diptych 1971 from Stroganoff for $800,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter decades of litigation, court after court including the United States Supreme Court has confirmed that the Norton Simon Art Foundation has proper title to Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder,\u201d the museum said, referring to the 2018 Ninth Circuit ruling and the Supreme Court\u2019s refusal to take up the case. \u201cWe will continue to make these important artworks accessible to the public, as we have since 1971.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a separate lawsuit<\/a> filed late Monday in federal court in LA \u2014 also prompted by the two-year window to bring such claims under California law \u2014 the daughters of a Jewish woman who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and forced to paint watercolors of Roma prisoners for Josef Mengele, the notorious \u201cAngel of Death,\u201d sued the museum of the former extermination camp for the return of their mother\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case is the paradigm case Section 338.2 was enacted to permit: a California family seeking the return of Watercolors created by their Jewish mother under Nazi coercion at Auschwitz and withheld by a Polish state museum for decades despite the Museum\u2019s own repeated acknowledgments of the family\u2019s rights,\u201d the daughters of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt said, referring to the 2024 California statute.<\/p>\n Both lawsuits also cite the 2025 HEAR Act, a federal law that seeks to eliminate several procedural defenses and substantive doctrines that have been exploited by museums and foreign governments for decades to thwart Holocaust families from having their claims decided on the merits.<\/p>\n The Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles is represented by attorneys of Arnold & Porter; the sisters, Michele Babbitt Kane and Karin Wendy Babbitt, are represented by attorneys from Sullivan & Cromwell.<\/p>\n Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing
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