Dr. Christian Ostermann is executive director of the National Cold War Center in Blytheville, Arkansas, and a research professor and program director of the History and Public Policy Program at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on Cold War history, Ostermann has spent nearly three decades researching the people, events and decisions that shaped one of the most consequential periods of the 20th century. His work has helped uncover and interpret newly declassified records from around the world, providing fresh insight into Cold War diplomacy, espionage, nuclear strategy and international relations.

An award-winning historian and author, Ostermann previously directed the History and Public Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he also led the internationally renowned Cold War International History Project. His book, Between Containment and Rollback: The United States and the Cold War in Germany (Stanford University Press, 2021), received the Richard W. Leopold Prize and the Harry S. Truman Book Award.

Beyond academia, Ostermann has been committed to making Cold War history accessible to  public audiences. He serves as chief curator of “The Berlin Wall. A World Divided.” at Union Station Kansas City, developed by Musealia in partnership with the Berlin Wall Foundation.

As executive director of the congressionally designated National Cold War Center, he is leading development of America’s official Cold War museum and helping steward one of the world's most significant collection of Cold War artifacts, including what will soon be the largest publicly viewable collections of Berlin Wall segments outside Berlin.

Born in the US and raised in West Germany, Ostermann now lives in the Washington, DC area with his family.