24 | DECEMBER 17 • 2020 

I

n a case argued before the 
U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 
7, the Trump administration 
argued that Holocaust resti-
tution claims should be heard 
outside the United States, claim-
ing that the Foreign Sovereignty 
Immunities Act protects foreign 
governments from having to 
defend claims in U.S. courts.
Local attorney 
Jonathan Schwartz, 
a partner at Jaffe 
Raitt Heuer & 
Weiss P
.C., believes 
the administration’s 
argument is wrong 
and says that based 
on the oral argu-
ments, he is “optimistic that a 
majority of the Supreme Court 

Justices will agree.
”
In the two cases currently 
before the court, Holocaust sur-
vivors and their heirs are seeking 
restitution for thefts of artwork 
incurred during the Holocaust. 
One case involves Germany, and 
the other involves Hungary.
Schwartz leads a local effort 
by the Jewish Bar Association 
of Michigan known as the 
Holocaust Art Recovery 
Initiative. It aims to combat the 
“ongoing injustice of unreturned 
artwork looted by the Nazis and 
their collaborators, which has 
been called the greatest displace-
ment of art in human history.
”
The effort was launched last 
year in response to passage of 
a federal law that allows more 

time — until Jan. 1, 2027 — for 
Holocaust victims and/or their 
descendants to file for the return 
of valuable artwork stolen from 
their families during the Nazi 
era (1933-1945).
Schwartz said he advised 
Hadassah’s director of govern-
mental relations to co-sign an 
amicus curiae brief authored 
by the American Association of 
Jewish Lawyers and Jurists sup-
porting the ability of Holocaust 
victims and their descendants to 
file claims in the U.S. 
“The facts, law, morality and 
justice require opening U.S. 
courts to these lawsuits, especial-
ly claims for recovery of stolen 
art,
” Schwartz said. 
According to Schwartz, there 
is a long history of plaintiffs 
suing foreign countries in U.S. 
courts, including for claims 
related to the Holocaust. He 
said there are “various legal 
arguments that justify allowing 
these lawsuits to proceed here, 
but the most compelling reason 
to me is that victims and their 
descendants, many of them U.S. 
citizens, will not receive a fair 
hearing in Germany, and espe-
cially not in Hungary.
”
Schwartz shared that Clara 
Garbon-Radnoti, a local 
Holocaust survivor, recently 
discovered “smoking gun” evi-
dence stored in the archives of 
the Holocaust Memorial Center 
in Farmington Hills that exposes 
the massive theft of important 
and valuable artwork from 
Hungarian Jews by the govern-
ment and museums, which have 
still never been returned. 
That evidence includes 180 
microfilm reels related to Jews 
in Hungary during World War 
II from Hungarian government 
agencies, Office of Military 
Chief of Staff, county/district/
city/town/village administra-
tions, police, courts and local 
Jewish communities. According 
to Schwartz, the materials 
document the legal and illegal 
means by which the Hungarian, 

German and local authorities 
accomplished their goals and 
include thousands of documents 
showing theft of artwork (inven-
tories), transit documents and 
acknowledgement of receipts 
from Hungarian museums.
Schwartz added that 
Donald Blinken, former U.S. 
Ambassador to Hungary from 
1994-97, publicly accused the 
Hungarian government of back-
tracking on promises to take 
responsibility for the looting of 
art from Jewish citizens. 
“To be blunt,
” Schwartz says, 
“victims of the Holocaust can-
not expect any justice in biased 
court systems located in coun-
tries that are still unwilling to 
take full responsibility for their 
misconduct.
” 
He said a related compelling 
point was made by Justice Neil 
Gorsuch, who remarked during 
oral arguments that: “If Jewish 
victims of the Holocaust were 
deemed noncitizens, stripped 
of their citizenship, at least in 
Germany, why should they then 
have to go exhaust remedies 
elsewhere” [than the U.S.]? 
The Supreme Court is expect-
ed to issue a ruling in June, and 
Schwartz is hoping it will be in 
favor of the Holocaust victims 
and their heirs in both cases, 
which will allow them, as well as 
many other cases, to proceed in 
U.S. federal courts. 
Schwartz continues to work 
with Garbon-Radnoti and the 
Holocaust Memorial Center 
to ensure the “smoking gun” 
Hungarian documents are avail-
able to all potential claimants.
“The Jewish people deserve 
a fair hearing to right this his-
torical wrong and reclaim an 
important part of our cultural 
heritage,
” Schwartz said. “The 
arguments for recovery are com-
pelling, although I anticipate 
Germany and Hungary will 
continue to obstruct, which is 
unfortunately consistent with 
their behavior for so many 
years.
” 

Local attorney who works to help 
victims recover stolen art is 
confi
 dent plaintif
 s will prevail.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR

SCOTUS Hears 
Holocaust 
Restitution Case

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, seen delivering remarks in 2017, asked 

during oral arguments at the court why descendants of German Jews should 

be forced to seek remedies in Germany in the first place. 

IN 
THED
JEWS

Jonathan 
Schwartz

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

