Damages sought in Nazi art seizure

An 82-year-old Holocaust survivor and his family are suing the German government over an extensive art collection, including paintings by El Greco and Peter Paul Rubens, seized by the Nazis and sold at auction during World War II.

The lawsuit is unusual because it is seeking damages for lost art rather than the return of items that once belonged to Holocaust victims, lawyers said. The suit estimates the 400 or more works would be worth “tens of millions” of dollars today.

Retired economics professor Fred Westfield said he was celebrating this 12th birthday in Germany when he last saw his uncle, Walter Westfeld, a renowned art collector. Fred Westfield subsequently fled with his family and moved to the United States, but the older man was arrested and later died in the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

The lawsuit, filed in Tennessee’s Davidson County Chancery Court, says today’s Germany is responsible for the actions of Hitler’s regime and wants a jury to award an unspecified amount for the loss of Westfield’s artwork to his heirs.

Lempertz auction house in Cologne, Germany, claimed the property was destroyed during bombing in WWII, but the lawsuit includes a copy of the December 1939 sale catalog and price list.