New laws trigger a legal fight over Nazi-looted art in L.A. and Auschwitz museums, tell me about this news in (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-laws-trigger-legal-fight-nazi-looted-art-l-auschwitz-museums-rcna598715)

This news reports on two major lawsuits recently filed in California seeking the return of artworks looted or created under duress during the Holocaust, made possible by newly enacted state and federal restitution laws.

The Legal Catalyst

The lawsuits rely on two recent legislative developments designed to remove procedural barriers and statute-of-limitations defenses that museums and governments have previously used to defeat Holocaust-era restitution claims:

• California AB 2867 (Section 338.2): Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, this statute mandates that California substantive lawwhich establishes that stolen property cannot be legally transferredapplies to restitution cases involving items taken through political persecution, regardless of foreign laws or elapsed time.

• The Federal HEAR Act of 2025: An updated federal statute (the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act) that strips away several procedural obstacles to allow claims by Holocaust victims and their heirs to be adjudicated on their merits.

These statutes were largely inspired by previous high-profile legal battles, such as the Cassirer family’s multi-decade fight against a Spanish museum over a looted Camille Pissarro painting.

1. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum Lawsuit (Los Angeles Federal Court)

• Plaintiffs: Michele Babbitt Kane and Karin Wendy Babbitt, daughters of Auschwitz survivor Dina Gottliebova Babbitt.

• Defendant: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oświęcim, Poland.

• The Artwork: Seven watercolor portraits of Romani prisoners that Dina Babbitt was forced to paint in 1944 under the orders of Nazi SS physician Josef Mengele. Most are signed and dated “Dinah 1944.”

• The Dispute: Babbitt and her heirs spent decades attempting to recover the portraits. The Auschwitz Memorial Museum has acknowledged that Babbitt made the paintings, but has refused to return them, maintaining that they were acquired in good faith in the 1960s and must remain at the site as crucial historical documentation of Nazi crimes. Babbitt’s daughters are suing for the return of the paintings and damages under California law.

2. The Norton Simon Museum Lawsuit (Los Angeles Superior Court)

• Plaintiffs: The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and its board chair, Daniel Gryczman (acting on rights transferred from Marei von Saher, the heir of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker).

• Defendant: The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.

• The Artwork: Adam and Eve, a pair of life-sized 16th-century Renaissance masterworks painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

• The Dispute: The paintings were seized in 1940 by Nazi leader Hermann Göring after Goudstikker fled the Netherlands. The Norton Simon Museum acquired them in the 1970s and has previously successfully defended ownership in court using procedural defenses. Under the new legal framework, the claim has been revived, with the Jewish Federation pledging to direct the majority of proceeds from any recovery toward supporting impoverished Holocaust survivors living in the Los Angeles area.