ABOVE: Maria Altmann reacts to news that Austria will return to her five Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis.

Maria Altmann, an 89-year-old Californian, found out yesterday that an Austrian arbitrator has decided that the country needs to return a set of Klimt paintings stolen from her family just before the Second World War. Altmann, whose wealthy Jewish family commissioned a number of Klimt paintings which have in the years after the war become regarded as priceless masterpieces, lost the paintings originally when she and her husband were interned in Dachau.

This might sound familiar, as there have been a number of high-profile lawsuits launched against European countries that have artworks stolen by Nazi looters in their collections. The Klimt paintings in this case are estimated to be worth upwards of $150 million. When exactly the paintings will be transferred from their Belvedere Castle home in Vienna is still up in the air.

LINK: Washington Post > Court Sides With Heir to Looted Nazi Art