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The Wende Museum

Contact Information

Address:
10808 Culver Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90230

Contact: Christine Rank
Head of Collections

Phone: 310-216-1600

Email: info@wendemuseum.org

Web site: www.wendemuseum.org


Archives/Collections

Description:

A privately funded collection of artifacts, papers, and photographs documenting the roughly forty years during which the the German Democratic Republic (GDR) existed alongside West Germany (FRG) as a Soviet satellite under a planned economy and as a military dictatorship, prior to "reunification" (the "Wende" in German) with the West in 1990.  Highlighted in the collections are passport control operations opposite "Checkpoint Charlie", the perpetual surveillance of its citizens, the "Stalinallee" and the "Palace of the Republic", the phenomenon of the Berlin Wall as flashpoint in the Cold War, as well as GDR achievements in art and material culture.  The Museum owns a complete set of the Communist Party daily newspaper, "Neues Deutschland" along with several thousand books and journals published for East German readers, for whom travel was closely restricted.  

 
Public programs introduce speakers with experiences dating from the Cold War.  Student interns from local colleges are trained in the techniques of archival processing, and visitors are welcomed at no charge, either by appointment, or on regular Open House days.
 
Catalog system: Archival materials and artefacts are cataloged by accession number and included in finding aids.  Secondary materials, such as published books, are cataloged using Library of Congress call numbers and subject headings
 
Exhibited: The museum creates exhibits and has historically loaned items for off-site exhibits.
 
Outreach: Internet, Newsletter, Brochure/flyer/pamphlet