Review
Adena Bernstein, a successful prosecutor and author, has written this seminal work, adding significantly to the corpus of Holocaust studies. Her book lucidly explains the complex legal issues regarding the restoration of Nazi loot to the rightful owners. Stolen Legacies is exceptionally well-researched and organized, and covers numerous cases across multiple countries. This book is profoundly important reading for scholars and the general public.
- John Liffiton, Professor Emeritus, Founder of Genocide Awareness Week, and author of Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Major William Henry Brown
The literature on Holocaust art restitution is quite extensive. Adena Bernstein's book, however, is a very welcome addition. In fact, through its case studies, it offers the most up-to-date overview currently available. It is a must-have for anyone working on this subject or seriously interested in it, and also for anyone interested in World War II more broadly.
At its core, though, this is a book about profound human tragedies, and it truly deserves to reach a much broader readership.
- Arthur Brand, Art Detective
Ms. Bernstein's book captures the complexity of art ownership in a post-World War II world. We were always taught to ask where any piece of art spent the period between and after the wars.
Her book raises many questions about how different countries have previously approached art held by Jewish citizens.
This book will change what you see when you visit a museum.
- Suzannah Kellner, Art Historian
This book relates the intriguing story of the ongoing search for education and true restorative justice regarding artwork and cultural material stolen during the Holocaust. Yet it is more than just an overview of historical misdeeds; it is also the personal journey of the author, a lawyer and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and her anecdotes reinforce both the human aspect of the cost and the continuing impact of stolen heritage. The story is clearly structured, well written, and convincingly told, while the assessment of how different countries have responded to restitution is cause for serious reflection.
- Mark Reid, Retired Exhibition Planner at the Canadian War Museum
Adena Bernstein has made an important contribution to the literature of Holocaust art restitution. Her provocative, insightful, and comprehensive review is enriched by her unique perspective as a career prosecutor and the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. We owe her a debt of gratitude.
- Eugene Sofer, former Deputy Director of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States
Adena Bernstein is a career prosecutor and an advocate for justice. Here she focuses on the looting legacy of the Holocaust, not just in terms of money, but also art, culture, and identity. As she states up front, "The Law is local even when injustice is not." Her journey to name what happened and what is still happening refuses to permit either evasion or complacency. As the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she feels the loss personally - not just in terms of possessions, but of family threads, connection, and life. Hers is a story both objective and personally painful, marking this book as something more than an indictment of the thieves of yesterday - it is an important call for action and an end to injustice that continues today.
- Mari K. Eder, Maj. Gen., U.S.
From the Author
The idea for Stolen Legacies began long before I started researching restitution law or museum policies. It began in my childhood home, listening to my grandmother.
My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. Like many survivors, she felt a deep responsibility to share what she had witnessed. As I grew older, I came to understand that the Holocaust was not only the destruction of millions of lives; it was also the systematic destruction of culture, identity, and history.
Across Europe, the Nazis looted homes, galleries, and museums, seizing paintings, libraries, and family heirlooms. What followed was one of the largest organized thefts of cultural property in modern history. Decades later, many of these works remain the subject of ongoing legal and ethical debates.
As a career prosecutor, I have spent much of my professional life working at the intersection of law and justice. When I began researching Nazi-looted art, I quickly realized that restitution claims sit at that same intersection; where legal systems, historical evidence, and human memory all collide.
Stolen Legacies explores how different countries have approached the question of restitution and how the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art continue to shape international efforts to reach "just and fair solutions" for families whose cultural property was taken during the Nazi era.
This book builds on the work I began in my first book, Living among the Dead, which tells the story of my grandmother's survival. While that book focused on one family's experience, Stolen Legacies looks more broadly at how the cultural losses of the Holocaust continue to echo through museums, legal systems, and families today.
Because restitution is not only about returning objects. It is about restoring memory.
From the Back Cover
The Nazis didn't just steal art.
They stole identity, history, and memory.
Decades later, thousands of those artworks still hang in museums and private collections — not because their histories are unknown, but because laws permit institutions and third partiesto retain them.
In Stolen Legacies, prosecutor, author, and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Adena J. Bernstein, explores the global failure to return Nazi-looted art. As she travels through thirteen countries, she shows how forced sales became legal transactions, how survivors were asked to prove the impossible, and how delays have replaced justice.
Blending investigative history, legal analysis, and personal storytelling, Bernstein exposes a harsh truth: when possession is protected, accountability disappears.
The book concludes by connecting art back to its human roots, with contemporary artists reflecting on why creation still matters after cultural devastation.
Stolen Legacies is not about reclaiming the past.
It is about determining what justice means today.
About the Author
Adena J. Bernstein is an award-winning author, prosecutor, and speaker. Her debut book, Living among the Dead, received the 2022 IAN Book of the Year Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction, the 2020 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal in Non-Fiction Biography, and First Place at the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards. The book has been translated into Spanish and Polish, and its accompanying Educator's Guide (2022) is used worldwide to support Holocaust education.
Bernstein is the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her grandmother's firsthand accounts of persecution and survival shaped her lifelong commitment to education, justice, and historical truth. She regularly speaks to schools, universities, and community organizations about Holocaust history and remembrance.
A career prosecutor, Bernstein has worked on cases involving child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and public safety. She currently serves as an Assistant Attorney General, handling foreign extraditions and leading statewide initiatives focused on fentanyl policy, prevention, and accountability.
Her newly released book, Stolen Legacies: The Fight for Nazi-Looted Art (March 10), examines unresolved Holocaust-era art theft through legal analysis, investigative history, and personal narrative.
Bernstein has received numerous honors, including an Amazing Woman Award from the Phoenix Suns and National Bank of Arizona, and the 2025 Guardian of Freedom Award for her leadership in fentanyl policy. She lives in Arizona and is the proud mother of three.
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