Behind the Iron Curtain: An extraordinary East German archive

19 January 2018

The Wende Museum in Los Angeles houses a formidable collection of artefacts from Cold War-era East Germany - from artworks and homewares to political posters and Stasi equipment. We’ve picked out just a few of these fascinating objects, which are featured in a major new book.

Programme: 'Emporium of Good Humor' at Friedrichstadt-Palast, Berlin, 1960 | Poster: 'The Reconstruction is Moving So Quickly that No Lies can Succeed', 1954, designed by Alfred Beier, MDV Köthen | Detail from 'The Path to Good Shopping' mail-order catalogue, 1960s, Versandhaus Leipzig

The Berlin Wall was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, which divided the world and dominated public thinking for much of the 20th century.

Behind the Wall lay the socialist GDR – and although physically close to the West, in many ways it was a completely different, often secretive world, with its own art, culture, design and official symbols.

The Wende Museum was established in California in 2002 to study the former Eastern Bloc. It is named after Die Wende, the German term for the period of change following the destruction of the Wall.

The East German Handbook is a comprehensive 800-page volume documenting 2,000 items from its extraordinary collection, along with text by a range of scholars and specialists. Together they offer a fascinating insight into a now-vanished world.

The East German Handbook is published by TASCHEN. The Wende Museum is now open at its expanded campus in Culver City, California.