Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee [Estonian KGB] records, 1924-1991

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Summary

Creators:
Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoÄ­ bezopasnosti and Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee
Abstract:
Correspondence, reports, and investigative files relating to secret police and intelligence activities, dissident and anti-Soviet activities, and repatriation and nationalism issues, in Estonia, and to Russian refugees in Estonia before 1940 and post-World War II Estonian refugees in western Europe. Digital copies.
Extent:
17,197 GB (6741.0 digital_files)
Language:
In Russian and Estonian
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] (Digital copy), [Reference code, for example ERAF.140SM.1.1], Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Originals in the Eesti Riigarkhiv, Tallinn, Estonia.

Background

Scope and content:

Correspondence, reports, and investigative files relating to secret police and intelligence activities, dissident and anti-Soviet activities, and repatriation and nationalism issues, in Estonia, and to Russian refugees in Estonia before 1940 and post-World War II Estonian refugees in western Europe. Digital copies.

Biographical / historical:

The People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the Estonian SSR was established by order No. 001067 of 29 August 1940 as a territorial division of the USSR NKVD. From August 1940 through February 1941 operational work was conducted by the State Security Directorate of the NKVD of the Estonian SSR. In February 1941, the USSR NKVD was divided into two commissariats: NKVD and People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB). In July 1941, the two commissariats were merged again, with the NKVD in charge of operational work.

During World War II, the NKVD of the Estonian SSR was essentially abolished. After April 1943 Estonia was again included in the Soviet Union, and the NKVD of the the Estonian SSR was re-established and organized in six structural units, similar to the structure of the USSR NKVD. While restoration of the most essential people's commissariats of the Estonian SSR was completed in February-March 1944, after appointments of people's commissars and commissariat personnel had been approved, the NKVD of the Estonian SSR started taking shape to some extent even earlier, in December 1943, with Lieutenant Colonel Aleksei Ivanov, Deputy Commissar for Cadre, in charge.

The NKVD of the Estonian SSR was renamed in March 1946 as the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and in March 1953 it was again renamed as the Ministry of State Security of the Estonian SSR. It stayed under the authority of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs through March 1954, when it became the Committee of State Security of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR. In 1990 amendments that allowed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Estonian SSR to operate independently were adopted. In August 1991, the independence of the Republic of Estonia was proclaimed, and the operations of the USSR KGB in Estonia were officially banned. Since 1992 its operations have been performed by the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Acquisition information:
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2012.
Custodial history:

The records were first held in the Estonian State Archives (Tallinn, Pagari 1) as the National Security Archives. According to governmental order No. 172 of 19 April 1993 (State Herald 1993, No. 22, article 372, p. 532), they were placed in the Police Archives or corresponding departmental archives within the system of the Estonian National Archives (former Party Archives, Tõnismägi, 16).

The Estonian National Archives registered these fondy with the letters SM (for Internal Affairs) appended to the fond numbers to differentiate them from fondy already existing within the Archives of the Communist Party of the Estonian SSR. The ERAF prefix refers to the Eesti Riigiarhiiv (ERA) followed by an F (Filiaal, or branch office), even though the archives has no branches.

The documents in the fondy are included in the Estonian State Archives's Archival Informational System (AIS), and since the 2000s the finding aids to them have been open to researchers; viewing documents is possible upon agreement.

Physical location:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Users must sign use agreement. The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Terms of access:

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item] (Digital copy), [Reference code, for example ERAF.140SM.1.1], Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Originals in the Eesti Riigarkhiv, Tallinn, Estonia.

Location of this collection:
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003, US
Contact:
(650) 723-3563
hooverarchives@stanford.edu
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