The Wende Museum holds one of the most important collections of East German art and artifacts in the world, as well as collections from Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the entire sphere touched by socialism during the Cold War, from Asia to the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The museum prioritizes collections that would otherwise be at risk of disappearance, destruction, or neglect, making these materials available to scholars and the general public through open access policies. This is essential to enabling future generations to encounter a vanishing culture, especially in a time when authoritarian regimes are determined to destroy and disappear these materials.
The Wende Museum’s collection consists of more than 200,000 artifacts, artworks, volumes of books and pamphlets, manuscript collections, photographic images, and films. The Wende also holds large collections of maps, printed ephemera, posters, periodicals, and newspapers. Additionally, the Museum possesses eleven sections of the Berlin Wall, ten of which form the largest continuous section of the Wall outside of Germany.
In 2020, the Wende began a three-year project to digitize its most important archival collections, funded by Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. A subsequent Arcadia grant supports the digitization of Soviet Jewish archives. All digitized materials will be freely available online. Browse our Online Collections.