Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt (born January 21, 1923, Brno, Czechoslovakia - died July 29, 2009) was an artist and Holocaust survivor. A U.S. citizen, she resided in Santa Cruz, California.^[1]

As Dina Gottliebova, she was imprisoned in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during WWII, where she drew portraits of gypsy inmates for the infamous Dr. Mengele. Following the liberation of the camp and the end of the war she emigrated to the United States and became an animator. She had been fighting the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for the return of her paintings.

Contents 1 Paintings 2 Fight for the Paintings 3 Support for her Cause 4 Marriage 5 Cancer 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Paintings

In 1944, while in Auschwitz Concentration Camp, she was chosen by Josef Mengele to draw portraits of gypsy inmates.^[2] Mengele wished to capture the gypsies' skin coloration better than he could do it with camera and film at that time. Gottliebova agreed if her own mother's life were spared as well. As of 2009, seven watercolors survive, all located in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.^[3]

According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum's website, seven of her portraits of inmate gypsies were discovered after World War II outside the Auschwitz camp in the early 1970s and sold to the Museum by people who apparently did not know that Gottliebova was still alive and living in California as Dina Babbitt. The Museum asked Babbitt to make the painful trip to the Auschwitz site in 1973 to identify her work. After she did so, she was informed that the Museum would not allow her to take her paintings home.

[edit] Fight for the Paintings

Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt has been legally credited by the Museum as the rightful owner of her artwork and must sign paperwork for the Museum each time it wants to reproduce her work for which she has never accepted any financial remuneration, asking the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum to give any monies earned through the reproductions of her artwork to go to causes helping the Gypsy or Roma people.^{[citation needed]} The Museum claims that because it purchased the paintings from third parties, it (the Museum) does not have to return Babbitt's works. International law has now established that possessing stolen artwork does not entitle the possessor to keep it.^{[citation needed]}

Gottliebova-Babbitt has formally requested the return of her paintings.^[4] The museum has rejected her claims.^[5]

The House version was authored by Representative Shelley Berkley. The Senate version was co-authored by Senator Barbara Boxer and the former (now deceased) Senator Jesse Helms. Both became part of the Congressional Record in 2003 and passed unanimously.

[edit] Support for her Cause

In collaboration with Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, comic book industry legend Neal Adams has championed Babbitt's efforts.^[6] Using text from Medoff, Adams illustrated a six-page graphic documentary about Babbitt that was inked by Joe Kubert and contains an introduction by Stan Lee.^[7] Adams deemphasizes any comparison between the Babbitt case and his struggle for artist-creator rights within the industry, saying that her situation was "tragic" and "an atrocity".^[6] A reprint of the graphic documentary and an account of Babbitt's plight were included in the final issue of the comic X-Men: Magneto Testament.^[8]

A group of students from Palo Alto High School, led by a teacher, David Rapaport, have been working to help Babbitt by communicating with officials from the State Department to have the paintings returned and writing to individuals in the government. They have written a book about this experience, the information for which may be found at http://www.justicefordina.com ^[9]

[edit] Marriage

She was the second wife of Art Babbitt, an animator.^[10] She had two daughters, Michele Kane and Karin Babbitt, and three grandchildren, Angela and Elizabeth Chilcott and Jon A. Kane, all of whom have been active in pursuing her claims.

[edit] Cancer

Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt was diagnosed with an aggressive form of abdominal cancer and had surgery on July 23, 2008. She died on July 29, 2009, aged 86.

[edit] References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (July 2009)

[edit] External links

• Dina Babbitt - Daily Telegraph obituary