The New York appellate court on June 4 2026 lifted a nine‑year hold that had barred heirs of a Jewish couple from suing Christie's over a Degas pastel that Nazis stole in 1935.
The 1935 auction in Berlin sold the painting, Danseuses, to dealers in London and Tokyo before it resurfaced in 2009 when Christie's arranged a private sale for $6 million and an auction that fetched $10.7 million—an amount that the Kainer heirs claim was obtained without their rightful claim to the estate.
Margret and Ludwig Kainer, who fled Germany in 1932 to avoid persecution, had their collection of more than 400 works seized. After Margret's death in France in 1968, a Swiss foundation, Norbert Stiftung, asserted control over the assets, a move the heirs argue was invalid because it ignored French inheritance certificates issued in 2012.
In 2013 the heirs sued UBS, the foundation and Christie's, but a 2017 New York decision dismissed the claims against UBS and the foundation on jurisdictional grounds and paused proceedings against Christie's. That pause was lifted only after a decade of legal wrangling.
The appellate court warned that further delay would make it harder to reconstruct the 2009 transactions, particularly as key witnesses have died or are elderly, and it now directs lower courts to resume the case. A final judgment on ownership and restitution is expected in the coming months.
The painting presently sits in a private collection, its current owner and location undisclosed, a silent reminder of the long‑term consequences of art looted during the Holocaust.