German efforts to recover about 1 million artworks looted by the Soviet Union after World War II demand a long-term strategy, the director of the Prussian Cultural Property Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, said.

In the 1990s, the lost art was regularly discussed at German-Russian government meetings. Now, it has slipped off the agenda as more pressing issues — such as oil and gas supplies, human rights, and Russia’s invasion of Georgia — have cooled relations. Mr. Parzinger, who took on his post in March, is planning German-Russian exhibitions to raise awareness of the lost art and joint research projects to help track down what is missing.

The issue of trophy art “is something that has to be picked up by high-ranking officials who have the will to find a solution of some kind,” Mr. Parzinger said in an interview yesterday at the foundation’s head office, a 19th-century villa near Berlin’s Tiergarten. “For the moment, there are other topics that are more urgent. The museum dialogue is a way to keep the discussion alive.”

Under Russian law, art looted from Germany by the Soviet Trophy Commission is Russian national property. Many Russians view it as legitimate compensation for the Soviet treasures looted or destroyed by Hitler’s troops.

Yet items such as the collection of Eberswalde gold, a late Bronze Age hoard discovered near Berlin, are irreplaceable national treasures, according to Mr. Parzinger, a 49-year-old archaeologist in charge of the foundation since March.