1.   A NATIONAL treasure has been tracked down to a German museum after it was allegedly stolen by a man using a metal detector.

2.   At the Pushkin, most of the art came from German museums and was well known to scholars, even if its post-war fate had been unclear.

3.   But both German museums assured the Metropolitan that they had no claim on the works.

4.   Convenient, since Soviet troops were under orders to gather German museum collections and send them back to Russia.

5.   Eitle said that the German museum had considered buying the work but that it had overextended itself with purchases recently.

6.   He said that in a new era of cultural cooperation, German museums could make long-term loans to Russian counterparts.

7.   If Holocaust survivors and German museums have anything in common in pursuing such claims, it is that American collectors and museums seldom ask serious questions about past ownership.

8.   Other paintings came from well-known German museums in Dresden or Gotha.

9.   Several local shops bought souvenirs, too, as did many German museums.

10.   She lives in Cologne, Germany, and Palm Beach, and is active with German museums, including the Museum Ludwig.