Jonathan Petropoulos

Who is Jonathan Petropoulos?

Jonathan Petropoulos is an American historian who writes about National Socialism and, in particular, the fate of art looted during World War II. He is John V. Croul Professor of European History at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. Before his 1999 appointment to Claremont McKenna College, Petropoulos taught at Loyola College in Maryland.

From 1998 to 2000, Petropoulos served as Research Director for the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets, chaired by Edgar Bronfman, Sr.. Since 2000, Petropoulos has served as an expert witness in several legal cases concerning Nazi-looted assets, including Altmann v. Austria, Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Kann v. Wildenstein, and Rosner et al. v. U.S.A..

Petropoulos was featured in The Rape of Europa, a 2006 documentary on Nazi art looting. He is the author of three books: Art as Politics in the Third Reich, The Faustian Bargain, and Royals and the Reich. With John Roth, he is the co-editor of Gray Zones: Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and Aftermath.