The Dutch state is to return 202 famous paintings worth millions of euros to the family of a Jewish art collector who died while fleeing the Nazis.

Jacques Goudstikker's collection was seized by the Nazi German authorities after their troops occupied the Netherlands in 1940.

The collection includes works by 17th-Century Dutch and Italian masters.

A Dutch junior minister said no compensation would be paid to the museums currently housing them.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Medy van der Laan, acknowledged that "it is a big loss for the museums". Some are displayed at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum.