Founded in 2002 in Culver City, California, the Wende Museum preserves the history and material culture of the Eastern Bloc and the political transformations that ended the Cold War. Created to save archives, artworks, and personal collections at risk of being scattered or lost after the upheavals of the late 20th century, it holds more than 100,000 objects and archival materials spanning East Germany, the former Soviet Union, and other socialist states. Its collections emphasize everyday life, dissident movements, civil society, and human rights advocacy, and the institution has grown from a research-focused archive into a public campus with galleries, gardens, and community programming.