Stolen Legacies: The Fight to Recover Nazi-Looted Art, presented by Adena J. Bernstein on Zoom

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 have allowed institutions to keep them. In Stolen Legacies, prosecutor and author Adena J. Bernstein investigates the global failure to return Nazi-looted art. Traveling through sixteen countries, she demonstrates how forced sales became legal transactions, how survivors were asked to prove the impossible, and how delays replaced justice.

Blending investigative history, legal analysis, and personal storytelling as the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Bernstein reveals a harsh truth: when possession is protected, accountability vanishes. The book concludes by connecting art back to its human roots, with contemporary artists reflecting on why creation still matters after cultural destruction.

Stolen Legacies is not about reclaiming the past. It is about defining what justice means today.

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.

Adena is the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors. Her grandmother’s firsthand accounts of persecution and survival shaped her lifelong commitment to historical truth, justice, and remembrance. She regularly speaks to schools, universities, and community organizations.

She has received recognition for her professional and philanthropic efforts, including an Amazing Woman Award from the Phoenix Suns and the National Bank of Arizona. In 2025, she was honored with the Guardian of Freedom Award for her leadership in fentanyl policy, prevention, and life-saving public safety initiatives. She lives in Arizona with her husband and is the proud mother of three. Learn more about her at adenajbernstein.com

The Great Neck Library will be hosting this author event on Zoom on Monday, November 16, at 7:00 p.m. Register now for the Zoom link at greatnecklibrary.org.