The US Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against actress Elizabeth Taylor for owning a Van Gogh painting that a Jewish woman lost before fleeing Nazi Germany to South Africa in 1939.
By the statement above, I am led to believe that the original owner abandoned her property. Regardless of which regime was in power at the time, all governments give themselves the power to redistribute the property of their citizens.
Anyone care to prove me wrong?
Yes, you're wrong, the United States is a party to the 1998 treaty, as are about 3 dozen nations. Transactions like this post early 1933 in Nazi Germany and Nazi occupied Europe are asumed to be invalid. That's simply American law, post 1998.