Company Profile
The Wende Museum of the Cold War
Company Overview
The mission of the Wende Museum is to preserve Cold War art, culture, and history from the Soviet Bloc countries, inspire a broad understanding of the period, and explore its enduring legacy.
Named for the Wende (pronounced “venda”), a German word meaning “turning point” or “change” that has come to describe the transformative period leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Wende Museum:
--collects and preserves artwork, artifacts, archives, films, and personal histories from Cold War–era Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union relating to the period 1945–1991;
--challenges and engages the public through experimental exhibitions and interdisciplinary programming inspired by the collection;
--illuminates the past and informs the present through creative collaborations with contemporary artists and designers; and
--promotes rigorous scholarship, educates students, and stimulates general interest through lectures, symposia, and publications.
Company History
The Wende Museum of the Cold War was founded to address the wholesale neglect and rampant destruction of Cold War material culture in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
What began as a grass-roots acquisition initiative and a warehouse of crated artifacts has quickly grown into a museum and research institution at the forefront of its field. The Museum’s collection of more than 100,000 artifacts, archives and personal histories is recognized as an unparalleled resource for insight into the Eastern perspective of the Cold War. The collection further serves as inspiration for the Museum’s educational programming which explores the complicated legacy of the Cold War and its relevance to contemporary social and political issues.
The Museum’s emergence and rapid growth has paralleled a dramatic rise in academic, media and general public interest in the lived experience of communist Eastern Europe. As a result, the Museum faces an increased demand for expanded programming and access to its collection.
Recognizing the Wende Museum’s growing stature since its foundation in 2002, the City of Culver City has provided the 1949 National Guard Armory building and grounds to the Museum for 75 years. The Museum’s vision is to seize the opportunity provided by the move into the Armory in late 2017 to fully implement its experimental approach to making the history of this period relevant to today’s audiences, and to achieve financial sustainability.
The Armory building is where the two industries that powered the economy of Los Angeles in the post-World War II period – defense and entertainment – converged. The defense industry was moved into high gear by the Cold War; the entertainment industry promoted, shaped, and later also criticized Cold War politics and culture. A building once designed to prepare for World War III will now be reimagined as a cultural center for preserving and interpreting Cold War art and history.