Holocaust heirs sue California museum to reclaim Nazi-looted 'Adam and Eve' masterpieces under new law

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026 · last updated 20 September 2026.

Two lawsuits filed in Los Angeles this week mark the first legal challenges under newly passed California and federal laws strengthening Holocaust victims' art claims. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and board chair Daniel Gryczman are demanding the return of Lucas Cranach the Elder's 1530 masterpieces 'Adam and Eve' from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. A second suit, brought by the daughters of the late Holocaust survivor Dinah Gottliebova Babbitt, demands watercolours she was forced to paint for Josef Mengele at Auschwitz be returned from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum in Poland.

The Nazi regime plundered more than 600,000 artworks from Jewish families and institutions across Europe between 1933 and 1945.

Both museums insist they hold legal title to the works and intend to keep displaying them to the public.

Gottliebova Babbitt was coerced into painting fellow prisoners for Mengele, the doctor known as the 'Angel of Death', while held captive at Auschwitz.