California lawsuits seek return of Nazi-looted art

Two new lawsuits have been filed in Los Angeles seeking the restitution of art looted by Nazis during the Holocaust. These legal actions are bolstered by recent legislative changes, including a 2024 California law and the federal Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025. These laws are designed to prevent cases from being dismissed due to the passage of time or technical legal grounds, specifically facilitating the return of art taken as a result of political persecution.

One lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court by the daughters of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, seeks the return of watercolors from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland. Babbitt was forced to paint these works while imprisoned in the concentration camp under the orders of Nazi pseudoscientist Josef Mengele. The museum has previously declined to release the works, which serve as firsthand accounts of war crimes.