Sir Peter Paul Rubens Arnold Bocklin Sir Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck Frans Hals Vienna’s Albertina Evacuates Artworks Rediscovered Etching Believed to Be a Rubens Triumphant TEFAF

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According to the suit, filed in Davidson County, Tennessee, the collection, which included paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Arnold Böcklin, Anthony Van Dyck, and Frans Hals, would be worth "tens of millions" of dollars today.

The suit is unusual in that claimants generally sue for the restitution of specific artworks rather than damages.

"There are several hundred items and we don't know where they all are," Jeffrey Schoenblum, a lawyer representing the Westfield family, told Bloomberg. "It would be really difficult to locate all the works of art, which may be scattered around the world. We are suing the German government. It bears the legal and moral responsibility."

Complicating the case, brought by Walter's 81-year-old nephew, Fred Westfield (the name has been Anglicized) of Nashville and several other children of Walter's three brothers, is the question of whether Fred and the other claimants are Walter's rightful heirs. Walter never married and had no children; his fiancée, Emilie Scheulen, who died in 1990, was named his heir by a Dusseldorf court in 1956 and was compensated by the German government during that decade for the loss of his artworks.

Scheulen's heirs are currently seeking restitution of individual works. According to Schoenblum, those claims are "not relevant" to the Tennessee case.

Monica Tatzkow, a historian and the co-author of the restitution-case handbook "Nazi-Looted Art," who is working for Scheulen's heirs, has written a book about Westfeld's story that will be published this month.

"I have been predicting for some time that the Federal Republic of Germany would be sued for damages relating to looted art," Tatzkow said. "There is some suspense about how the government will respond. Only time will tell whether this case is an appropriate one."

German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Amelie Utz told Bloomberg the lawsuit is "in very early stages of the process" and is being examined by the government and justice authorities. Torsten Albig, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry, said, "the big question here is sovereign immunity," which limits how another nation can be sued in U.S. courts. The Westfelds argue that their case should be subject to an exemption.