Four watercolours painted by Adolf Hitler may be kept by the US Army, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The paintings, which were seized in Germany after World War II, are at the centre of a battle between a German family and the US government for 20 years.

On Monday, the court turned the German Hoffman family’s challenge to the US’ taking of the paintings and photographs, which they say are family property after the late Heinrich Hoffman hid them in a German castle during the war.

Heirs of former German photographer Heinrich Hoffman contend their father was the victim of wartime pillaging. "The unigue aspect of this theft is that the culprit is the United States government", the attorney for the Hoffman’s heirs, Robert White, told the Supreme Court in a filing.

Street scenes

Hitler’s watercolours include street scnes and war landscapes painted during World War I. US discovered them in 1945, not long after Hitler committed suicide in a German castle where Hoffman had stored them.

White told the Supreme Court that the seizure of the paintings and some 2.5 million phtographs, violated the constitutional rights of the Hoffmann family. Heinrich Hoffman had owned the photographs through their photography news service, Hoffmann Presse.

But the Bush administration rejected the appeal, saying the watercolours were Nazi art, and had been confiscated "in order to de-Nazify" Germany.

The Hoffmann family has battled for more than two decades against the US government over this matter. Also included in the dispute is Billy Price, an art investor from Texas, who bought the rights to the works.

A federal judges in Texas ordered the government in 1993 to pay some $10 million in damages and interest for refusing to return the art and photos.

The decision was later overturned. The latest litigation involves another appeals court finding that say the army did nothing wrong.

The US government has contended that the works legally belong to the United States under a US-German treaty signed after World War II.

"The United States, in acquiring those properties, was making quintessential public policy decisions", Soliciter-General Theodore Olson wrote in a filing.

Hitler confidant

Heinrich Hoffmann served not only as Hitler’s photographer, but also as his confidant and public-speaking coach. Hitler met his future mistress, Eva Braun, during visits to the Hoffman studio, where she worked.

Hitler (photo) had presented a courtyard scene, titled "Der Alte Hof München" ("The Old Courtyard in Munich") to Hoffmann in 1936 as a 50th birthday gift.

Nine years later, Hoffamnn chose a medieval castle outside Munich and a church in Bavaria to hide the courtyard picture and three other Hitler watercolours, along with his large collection of photographs.

Hoffmann was later found guilty at the post-war Nuremberg trials of war profiteering.

The US army has keeps the paintings in storage in Alexandra, Virginia.