Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
US Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over Painting Stolen From Jewish Family by Nazis
Error: Contact form not found.
by Algemeiner Staff
Detail of the painting “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” by Camille Pissarro. Photo: public domain
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday on a case involving a family’s generations-long attempt to retrieve artwork stolen by the Nazis in 1939.
The painting, “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” by Camille Pissarro, was originally owned by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer, a Jewish woman living in Berlin who was forced to sell it for a nominal price to Nazi agents in return for permission to flee Germany.
Neubauer was later given a small sum in reparations by the post-war German government in 1958 for the painting, which was believed to have been lost or destroyed. Decades later, it was discovered on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid by her grandson, Claude Cassirer.
Cassirer sought to claim ownership over the painting for a decade through court cases in Spain and California, where he resided, without success. After his death in 2010, his children carried on these efforts, with a defeat in the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021 leading to the Supreme Court case.
The issue before the court concentrates on whether Spanish or California law applies to the case. If the jurisdiction is Spanish, it is unlikely the painting will be returned, as Spanish law does not require restitution if the work was acquired by the current owners in good faith. That is not the case in California.
The Cassirers’ petition before the court asserted that California law applies, as the painting was smuggled out of Germany after World War II through California and had been “traded privately in the United States” before acquisition by the Spanish museum.
The petition described Spain’s refusal to return the painting as “flouting its professed adherence to international commitments to resolve claims to Nazi-stolen art.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that certain court justices appeared in sympathy with the plaintiffs, with Chief Justice John Roberts saying, “Welcome to the United States. That’s how our courts work.”
