Cold War Memory: Preserving Communist Material Culture


Words by Kathryn Ung and
Sarah Richardson

The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 marked the “beginning of the end” of the Cold War. The transformative period that followed is typically referred to as the wende, which is the German word for “change” or “turning point”. 

The reunification of Germany and perestroika and glasnost in the Soviet Union exposed cracks in the communist system and contributed to an increasing feeling of dissatisfaction amongst citizens. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 came the rampant neglect, disposal, and destruction of material culture associated with life under communism. As individuals got rid of personal belongings, museums in formerly communist states practiced large-scale deaccessions of artworks and archives that represented the socialist paradigm. As a result, many collecting institutions were not actively acquiring objects and archives that captured day-to-day life in formerly communist states. 

The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd, Culver City

The Wende Museum was founded in 2002 by Los Angeles-based historian, Justin Jampol, while he was working on his PhD in Modern History from Oxford University. As Jampol was writing his dissertation about East German material culture, he had trouble finding and accessing materials to research in 1990s Germany. Recognizing that the study of history extends beyond what is found in traditional archives and museums, Jampol began to collect materials that were slipping through the cracks of collecting institutions. The Wende’s collection consists of more than 200,000 objects, including artwork, ephemera, archives, artifacts, and personal histories detailing life in the Soviet Bloc. The museum collects objects that originate throughout the Socialist world during the Cold War-era (roughly 1945 through 1991).

A selection of the Wende Museum’s collection of Soviet demobilization albums

The Wende Museum’s collecting mission prioritizes materials that are at-risk of disappearing or that exist on the periphery of traditional archival interests. In the early collecting days of the museum, Jampol purchased materials from flea markets and individuals who were disposing of their personal belongings. Today, much of the collection is acquired through auction houses, scouts, and donations that go through a thorough review process. The Wende Museum has a Collections Committee that works to define the scope of the collection and the collecting practices. While the objects, art, and archives are all part of the larger Wende collection, different demands of the materials dictate different workflows and require different metadata fields. There are two small teams working on different parts of the collection–one focused on art and objects and the other focused on the museum’s archival collections.

 The institution’s holdings document underground movements, subcultures, and ideas that, by their nature, fought mainstream erasure, operated intentionally out of sight of the State surveillance apparatus, or were threatened or impacted by the disappearance of their members and proponents.

As an institution fundamentally concerned with protecting at-risk collections from vanishing, the Wende Museum paradoxically holds disappearance at its core. However, the specter of disappearance permeates the intellectual content and physicality of the collections as well. The institution’s holdings document underground movements, subcultures, and ideas that, by their nature, fought mainstream erasure, operated intentionally out of sight of the State surveillance apparatus, or were threatened or impacted by the disappearance of their members and proponents. Meanwhile, the physical formats that make up the collections reflect the desires of their creators to share ideas ephemerally–whether for ease of reproduction or safety –or to expunge past figures and ideas from history.

Informacja "Solidarności", Nr. 24, 12.02.82 (February 12, 1982), [2020.010.009.090]

One notable recent acquisition that embodies the concept of disappearance is the Polish Underground collection, a large archive related to dissident movements in Poland in the 1980s. This archive started in 2019 with the donation of a small collection from a local former Polish dissident, architect, and artist, Tomas Osiński. While Osiński recognized that these items belonged in a museum, he did not anticipate the level of interest they received. Realizing the historical value of his collection and the larger impact that the Polish underground movement had on the study of Cold War history, Osiński reached out to friends who also participated in the Polish underground movement to encourage them to donate their collections to the Wende Museum as well. Many of the materials were created during Martial Law, from December 1981 through July 1983, when many dissidents were rounded up and interned. Solidarność (eng. Solidarity), the first legal trade union in the Eastern Bloc, became outlawed after only 16 months of existence. Underground, anti-government presses emerged. Newsletters from the earliest days of Martial Law announced political arrests, instances of police brutality, inhumane prison conditions, and shared directives for passive resistance. One form of resistance came from the newsletters themselves: although production was illegal, citizens took it upon themselves to create these newsletters. Some contain notes directing the reader to duplicate and redistribute them. Many were produced on thin “bibuła” or tissue paper. This facilitated quick replication, as ink can pass through many sheets at once, and allowed for easy concealment. At the time, this paper was fragile and difficult to handle–a fact that is still the case after 40 years, thus making the preservation of this collection especially important for the study of Communist Poland.

Fundusz Pomocy Więżniom Politycznym, 100 dni (Nysa) from wolna poczta internowanych, 1983, [2020.010.447] . Mail-art print created to raise funds for political prisoners interned during Martial Law in Poland (1981-1983).

Much like the Polish Underground collections, the Wende’s Soviet Hippie materials were at risk in large part because they were not seen as historically significant. While the term “Soviet Hippie” may sound oxymoronic, this group and their collections emerged despite the pressures of conformity behind the Iron Curtain. The museum’s holdings related to the subculture are made up of a dozen individual collections, primarily of photography. Each reflects the anti-authoritarian creativity, community, and human spirit of the Soviet Hippie movement in the face of immense societal pressure. Hippies in the Soviet Union were inspired by their American counterparts, but embraced nonconformity differently than those in the West. Because hippies did not fall in line with Soviet society, many were forcibly sent to asylums, which resulted in the disappearance of both individuals and their personal collections. Anatolii Kalabin, known by his hippie moniker ‘Azazello’, donated his collection of notebooks, sketches, artwork and photographs to the Wende Museum in 2015. While his collection ranges in date from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, there are gaps in his writings in the 1980s, which can be attributed to a series of Azazello’s incarcerations. He passed away at the age of 60, shortly after donating his archive to the Wende Museum. Dying young was not entirely uncommon among the Soviet Hippies. About a third of the hippies who left their collections in the care of the Wende Museum have passed before the age of 65, as did other hippies who are heavily represented in the collections. The Wende began collecting these materials in part as a response to these untimely deaths, as family members of the hippies, not recognizing the historic significance of the objects, would frequently dispose of their belongings. This disappearance makes the collections that are stewarded by the Wende all the more poignant. 

Azazello, Untitled / notebook [No. 6], 1977, [2015.075.006]

Disappearance of another kind is represented in the Wende’s collection through a scratched out painting of one of the Soviet Union’s most well-known leaders. Nikita Khrushchev served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union began the process of de-Stalinization, which gave way to artistic expression and relative relaxation of censorship. However, Khrushchev’s failed economic changes and deviation from established Soviet precedent ultimately led to his removal from office in a palace coup. Soviet leadership repealed many of Khrushchev’s reforms and attempted to erase him from Soviet history.

After his removal from office, an unknown intervenor attempted to cover up Khrushchev’s presence by painting over his figure. However, in later Soviet years, the paint layers were removed, revealing Khrushchev once again.

The painting, titled Party Congress in the Kremlin, succinctly visualizes this ideological reversal. The work originally depicted Khrushchev being applauded by political leaders. After his removal from office, an unknown intervenor attempted to cover up Khrushchev’s presence by painting over his figure. However, in later Soviet years, the paint layers were removed, revealing Khrushchev once again. The work thus stands as both an example of the historical rewriting that occurred in the Soviet Union through the modification of art, and as evidence that the forces of disappearance permeated all ranks, affecting the powerful and marginalized alike. 

Unknown, Party Congress in the Kremlin, c. 1958, oil on canvas, [2007.900.104]

Beyond preserving such acts of erasure, the Wende aims to promote the visibility of the collection and the stories of life under communism through physical and digital access. In addition to hosting exhibitions and archive open houses that highlight parts of the collection, the Wende Museum has a research program that does not require those interested to have institutional affiliations, letters of recommendation, or specific educational backgrounds to access the collection. A portion of the digitized collection is also accessible through the online collection portal. In late March, the Wende started offering Digitization Days. At these events, patrons can come to the Wende and use museum scanners to digitize their own collections at no charge, ensuring the longevity of their personal and family histories. Through this program, the museum nurtures a form of grassroots archival work that directly counters the types of informational and other repression experienced by many of the collection’s original creators.

In addition to hosting exhibitions and archive open houses that highlight parts of the collection, the Wende Museum has a research program that does not require those interested to have institutional affiliations, letters of recommendation, or specific educational backgrounds to access the collection.

As represented in these programs and policies, and in the collection and collecting mission of the institution, the Wende Museum has a longstanding tradition of uncovering instances of disappearance and bringing attention to narratives that would have otherwise faded into history. Through the preservation of once at-risk materials, the Wende shares cautionary tales of governmental control and unique stories of resilience and creativity in the face of repression. In the current political climate, such stories, and the historic and contemporary efforts by the Wende and others to prevent personal, institutional, and ideological erasure, gain increasing relevance and urgency.

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