Exhibition / Now on View

Undercurrents II: Archives and the Making of Soviet Jewish Identity

Elol Publishing House, Jewish Periodical Samizdat, 1983, No. 3 of 5 Issues
Collection Aleksander Smukler, Wende Museum

October 13, 2024 to April 6, 2025
The Wende Museum

Undercurrents II: Archives and the Making of Soviet Jewish Identity tells the story of how an underground community of dissident publishers ignited a cultural revival among Soviet Jews that spread around the world. This exhibition displays Soviet Jewish samizdat (self-published work), letters, art, and ephemera from the private archive of a leader of the Soviet Jewish underground in the 1980s. These materials advance our understanding of how this persecuted minority group transformed into a global social movement, how the Soviet Union’s government attempted to prevent this transformation, and how Western powers like the United States sought to support the Soviet Jews and their plight.

Undercurrents II: Archives and the Making of Soviet Jewish Identity is generously supported by Arcadia, the Koum Foundation, and Alexander Smukler.

Current
Rinsing The Bones
“Rinsing the Bones explores the ongoing generational impact of displacement. My experience of unpacking the residual effects of being born stateless to Jewish Soviet refugee…
April 27, 2024 - April 6, 2025
See More
Current
Counter/Surveillance: Control, Privacy, Agency
In recent decades, technological advances have supercharged surveillance. Online, personal data are automatically collected and analyzed on a mass scale. Algorithms watch, li…
October 13, 2024 - October 19, 2025
See More
Current
Felix Quintana: Donde Nace El Agua (Where The Water is Born)
Donde Nace El Agua (Where The Water is Born) by artist Felix Quintana transforms the Wende Museum’s former East German guardhouse into an artwork that explores the artist’…
October 13, 2024 - April 6, 2025
See More

Stay Connected