Hitler paintings to remain with Army

The Supreme Court let stand Monday a lower court ruling allowing the Army to keep four watercolors painted by Adolf Hitler that were seized in Germany after World War II.

The justices turned aside a challenge by the family of the late German photographer Heinrich Hoffmann Sr., which had sought either the return of the paintings, as well as 2.5 million photographs, or millions of dollars in damages.

Hoffmann’s family contended that the photographer was a victim of wartime art pillaging and that the seizure of the paintings and photos violated their constitutional rights. The U.S. government countered that the photos and paintings were Nazi art confiscated to “de-Nazify Germany.”