For nearly 20 years, the heirs of Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch art dealer whose collection was seized by the Nazis, have sought to recover two Renaissance paintings, “Adam” and “Eve” by Lucas Cranach the Elder, currently held by the Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles. Despite multiple court rulings against them, including a 2018 federal appeals court decision, the family has launched a new legal effort under a recently enacted California law designed to reopen cases that were previously dismissed.

The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization, along with its president, Rabbi Noah Farkas, now holds the rights to the claim and has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. If successful, the federation has pledged to sell the paintings and use the proceeds to support Holocaust survivors in the Los Angeles area. Charlene von Saher, Goudstikker's granddaughter, emphasized the family’s commitment to the federation’s mission, calling the approach “very important” to them.

The paintings were looted in 1940 by Hermann Goering, the Nazi Reichsmarschall, after the German invasion of the Netherlands. Allied forces later recovered the artworks and returned them to Dutch officials. However, a Dutch postwar tribunal sold the two Cranach works to heirs of the Stroganoff family, who claimed prior ownership, asserting the paintings had been seized by Soviet authorities following the Russian Revolution. The Stroganoff heir subsequently sold the paintings to the Norton Simon Museum. The Goudstikker family and several experts have contested the Stroganoffs’ claim, arguing there is insufficient evidence they ever possessed the paintings before they entered Goudstikker’s collection in 1931.

U.S. courts have previously rejected the family’s claims, in part citing the “act of state” doctrine, which bars American courts from questioning the legal acts of foreign governments. Changes to both federal and California law, most notably the amended Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act signed in April 2024, prohibit defendants from using such defenses in Holocaust-era art restitution cases. Rabbi Farkas said these legislative updates have enabled the new lawsuit.

The Norton Simon Museum maintains that “court after court” has affirmed its legal ownership of the paintings. In a statement, the museum asserted that prior rulings resulted from thorough examination of evidence and witness testimony and criticized the notion that victories were due to technicalities. The museum underscored its ongoing commitment to making the artworks publicly accessible since acquiring them in 1971.

Goudstikker acquired the Cranach paintings at a 1931 Berlin auction of assets nationalized by the Soviet government. While the catalog listed them as part of the Stroganoff collection, art historians have questioned that provenance. The museum acknowledged that before Goudstikker’s purchase, the paintings were looted either from the Stroganoff family or a Ukrainian church.

Jacques Goudstikker died in May 1940 while fleeing the Nazi invasion, after falling aboard a ship crossing the English Channel. Following his death, Goering seized much of the dealer’s collection in a coerced sale. Goudstikker’s widow, Desireé, and their son, Edward, eventually settled in the United States. After the war, Desireé received some compensation from the Dutch government. Edward’s widow, Marie von Saher, has pursued restitution efforts on the family’s behalf for decades, achieving some success including the restitution of over 200 artworks returned from Dutch museums in 2006.

California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who authored the 2024 state law, said the legislation is intended to ensure Holocaust-era art claims are judged on their substantive merits rather than procedural grounds, emphasizing principles of morality and justice. Supporters of the effort, including Joel Greenberg, president of the nonprofit Art Ashes, say the new legal landscape could motivate more families to seek restitution and pressure institutions to resolve claims fairly.

Charlene von Saher expressed hope for the lawsuit’s outcome, emphasizing the family’s belief in the federation’s mission. “They’re exquisite, beautiful paintings, but they are not something I could possibly hang in my house,” she said, noting that the priority is helping Holocaust survivors through the potential sale of the works.