Attorney General Bonta Steps Up to Defend California Law Helping Holocaust Survivors Recover Stolen Art

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a motion to intervene in Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation to defend Assembly Bill (AB) 2867, which expands the rights of victims of art theft. Cassirer v. Thyssen is a long-running case concerning the ownership of an 1897 oil painting by French impressionist Camille Pissarro that was stolen by the Nazi regime in 1939. After a series of transactions, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection - an instrumentality of the Kingdom of Spain - acquired the painting in 1993 and still holds it today despite conceding that it is harboring stolen Nazi loot. The California Attorney General's Office has supported the Cassirer family in their legal effort to secure the return of this painting for more than 20 years. Attorney General Bonta now seeks to intervene in their case as California chief's law officer, responsible for defending the constitutionality of state laws like AB 2867.

"There is nothing that can undo the horrors and loss experienced by individuals during the Holocaust. But there is something we can do - that California has done - to return what was stolen back to survivors and their families and bring them some measure of justice and healing," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "AB 2867 is about fairness, moral - and legal - responsibility, and doing what's right. As Attorney General, my job is to defend the laws of California, and I intend to do so here. My office has supported the Cassirers' quest for justice for two decades, and we will continue to fight with them for the rightful return of this invaluable family heirloom."

"I applaud Attorney General Bonta for stepping up to defend this important bipartisan law," said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino). "AB 2867 is part of a decades long quest for justice and is rooted in the belief that California must stand on the right side of history. I am proud that our state will continue to fight for justice and morality."

In 1939, Lilly Cassirer Neubauer and her husband sought to flee Nazi Germany in the face of increasing persecution. In order to obtain exit visas, they were forced to "sell" the painting in question to a Nazi art appraiser. Although they later received monetary compensation from the German government, the Cassirer family never waived their right to seek restitution or the return of the lost painting. Unbeknownst to the family, the painting was sold to a dealer in Beverly Hills in 1951, subsequently sold to a Missouri art dealer in 1952, re-sold to a Dutch-born Swiss Baron in 1976, and finally purchased by the Kingdom of Spain in 1992.

In 2000, a descendant of the Cassirer family who had moved to San Diego in 1980 discovered that the painting was on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and promptly filed a petition with the Kingdom of Spain seeking its return. When the petition was rejected, the family filed a lawsuit in California in 2005 asserting property claims under California law, which entitles victims of art theft to make their claims against museums in possession of stolen art for up to six years after the victim discovered the museum's ownership. Over the years, the case worked its way through the courts and was ultimately remanded back to the Ninth Circuit by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 for further consideration.

On remand, the Ninth Circuit held that Spanish law applied. The Cassirers filed a petition for rehearing en banc, which the court denied. Shortly thereafter, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 2867, introduced by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, which expands the rights of victims of art theft and requires courts to apply California law to victims' claims. The U.S. Supreme subsequently vacated the Ninth Circuit's decision and remanded the case to consider AB 2867. The case is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.