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Based on a case study of the national palace museum of Versailles, this article offers a new perspective on the spoliation debate, notably by considering it from the perspective of the fate of collections confiscated from Jews who had been stripped of French nationality. This article analyses the owners and the processes implemented by the French administration (at the beginning, the “Administration des domaines”), who worked closely with the national museums directed by Jacques Jaujard. Several of the victims of these confiscations belonged to the Rothschild family, whose collections were particularly well known by French museum curators. While these works have been returned to their rightful owners since the war, it is nonetheless important to understand the real issue behind these acquisitions, some of which were listed in the museum’s inventories. How can we interpret this 80 years later: as cynical behavior or as a selfless attempt to save heritage threatened by the Nazis? The author also details the case of non-restituted works of art, purchased by the museum, in two Aryanized Parisian galleries.