Exhibition / Past

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
Between Two Empires: Argentina in the Cold War Pendulum (1945–1989)
Photographs from the archives of the newspapers La Razón and Clarín trace four decades of Argentine political life, from Perón to the return of democracy. Press photogr…
September 5, 2026 - January 31, 2027
See More
Upcoming
Competing Cosmologies: Interpreting the Sky
Co-curated by the Wende’s Curatorial Department and NASA historian Lois Rosson, Competing Cosmologies explores how new discoveries in space exploration during and after …
November 7, 2026 - October 17, 2027
See More

Stay Connected