Physical Description: 2319.0 digital_files

The Department of Security Investigation was created within the KGB of the Estonian SSR in 1954. As a result, investigative files of individuals who violated operational security were recorded in a card catalog and registers. The card catalog of investigative files was called "investigations in progress," and was maintained through 1992. Investigative files from the Security Service of the Estonian SSR were added to the collection from 1940 through 1991, when the Estonian SSR ceased to exist. Then the collection was transferred to the Information Center of the Police Department and registered there as Fond 129.

State Security investigative files (minus those of persons whose investigation was deemed terminated because of age, death, amnesty, rehabilitation, expiration of the statute of limitations, or to other unspecified reasons) were eventually transferred to fond ERAF.129SM, Investigative Files in Process, to complement the other archival fond, ERAF.130SM, that consisted of completed investigative files. The two collections, fonds ERAF.129SM and ERAF.130SM, form a mutually intertwined archival system. According to 17 original registers, 13,416 files were transferred. Data in the card catalog arranged alphabetically by personal name identifies corresponding investigative files. According to the archival record, fond ERAF.129SM included 13,170 items as of 12 October 2010. The discrepancy in the number of files listed and received can be explained by the fact that some investigative files were incomplete, some files were transferred to departmental archives of the National Archival System, and some investigations were not finished before transfer; though included in the catalog of fond ERAF-130SM they were physically inaccessible. Physical transfer of fonds took place after collections were incorporated into National Archives (former Party Archives). Some investigative files were missing. They may have been taken by the Procurator's Office for rehabilitation or other matters, by the Supreme Court, or by other authorities. Some incomplete investigative files that could be traced were sent during the Soviet period to other parts of the Soviet Union, where they remained. With the introduction in 1992 of the Entity Control Act, if materials from investigative files were removed and sent to the MVD, a corresponding note was made in the registers; such materials cannot be retrieved. Extensive overlapping numbering of files in fond ERAF.129SM made re-numbering unreasonable; moreover, it would have broken the link between files and their records in the card catalog and registers.

On 25 May 2000, the operative-informational card catalog was created for study of those convicted for political reasons. On 6 October 2009 the catalog was integrated with the catalog of completed investigative files, fond ERAF 130.SM (ERAF.130SM.2.2), for a total of 62,040 cards.

The collection includes investigative files, registered in the incoming files registration book of the State Security Archives and assigned a number. Some investigative files include multiple volumes kept under one assigned file number. The last entry in the registration book was number 29205, made on 23 September 1991. There was a finding aid to this collection (opis) that allowed one to search for an investigative file of a particular person. While cases were in the process of investigation and their files considered incomplete they were placed in this fond (ERAF.129SM). Upon completion of investigation, the files were transferred to fond ERAF 130SM; as a result, gaps appeared in the files. Some investigative files, according to entries in the register, were sent to various parts of the Soviet Union. It was not expedient to eliminate those gaps when the State Archives adopted sequential numbering of files. Besides, the original file registration number provides meaningful information. File numbers also differ from those in other existing collections. As a result, the initial connection between administrative data (incoming number in the register) and record indexes was retained. The opis was transferred to the National Archives of Estonia in 1993, where it was identified as catalog No. 1 of investigative files. In 1994 the collection was inspected

In 2006 the collection was incorporated into the Archival Information System (AIS). In 2009 the original catalog No. 2 of investigative files was transferred to the National Archives as Fond ERAF.130.2.1. The organically related collections ERAF.129SM and ERAF.130SM also included an operational-informational card catalog of files of those arrested for political reasons (formerly operational security file), thus giving full access to the corresponding investigative files (ERAF.130SM.2.2).

Incomplete investigative files were originally closed according to the Criminal Procedure Code. In political processes, after the verdict was announced, the file was registered by the State Security Committee (KGB) of the Estonian KGB and indexed in the card catalog. Thus the file was registered with the KGB operative account. The collection of incomplete criminal case files (ERAF.129SM) contains investigative files of individuals in various locations; however, their files were not excluded from the KGB operative account for security reason. They include files of leading figures of the Republic of Estonia before 1940 (President Konstantin Pats, Chief of Armed Forces General Laidoner, and other military commanders, such as Colonel Eduard Ahman and Lieutenant Colonel Jan Alder; political commissar of the police Eduard Kapsta Pechory, Forest Brothers, etc).

Investigative files contain a master file (main file) and a monitoring file. The latter file belonged to the jurisdiction of the State Procurator, who was entitled to supervise the investigation process to ensure it was handled in compliance with procedural rules. The number of volumes in investigative files can vary from one to several dozen. All investigative records are placed under the same file number, as well as supervisory data; in some cases other items might be included, like a prison file or additional evidence. In some cases only the supervisory file was preserved, in others only the investigative file.

Investigative files also include: file handed to accused (in the trial) notes, procedural acceptance of the regulations, arrest warrant, search protocols, property confiscation rules, defendant questionnaire, interrogation protocol, certified medical statement regarding health condition for physical work, charge summary, exhibits (documents, photos, flags, printed matter), trial record, court ruling, extracts of minutes of special meeting, final appeal, final appeal on the basis of further investigations, and certificate of rehabilitation. Supervisory files include documents pertaining to the supervisory process: penalties, injunctions, prosecution summaries and transcripts of judgments.

The complete fond contains 13,172 files. The Hoover Archives has only 2,319 files.

A finding aid listing all files in this fond, which is arranged by personal name, is available in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digital files are available on computer stations in the Hoover Archives reading room. The files are searchable via uncorrected OCR.

PDF Inventory of Fond ERAF.129SM 

Physical Description: 4235.0 digital_files

Fond ERAF.132SM includes records of temporary detention ("filtration") camps containing personal data, some confiscated correspondence, and information about the transfer of detainees from one camp to another. The "filtration" camps were established in various regions of the Estonian SSR after Soviet troops entered the territory of the republic in the course of World War II. The individuals detained in camps were checked and "filtered" by the USSR state security institutions. Files of checked and "filtered" individuals in the camps were gradually accumulated in the Department "A" (Archives) of the Committee of State Security under the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR from 12 December 1956 through 11 December 1991. During this time 10,040 files were registered in the collection. A significant part of them was either destroyed upon expiration of their retention period, or sent to other regions of the USSR. Though there appears to have been a directive to destroy the records of filtration camps in the 1970s-1980s, for unknown reasons they were not destroyed.

As of May 1991, records of filtration camps included more than 4193 files, 8965 index cards, and registers in seven volumes. Eight files, numbers 10041 to 10049, were added to the collection by the Police Archives from 7 February through 11 August 1992. While some records had been sent to other regions of the Soviet Union and destroyed, entries for these files were not removed from the registers. Thus a large number of entries in the registers referred to files that were missing by the time the Police Archives gained physical custody. As a result, the Police Archives created a new register in four volumes, preserving the original numbers of extant files in a new index. A card catalog accompanying the files was arranged alphabetically by personal surname and included a reference to the corresponding file. In 1991 the card catalog was revised so that only cards for extant files remained.

The records were arranged in chronological order starting from 1956. Each file is listed in the order it was created. The number of files in the fond was originally based on the number of entries in the register rather than the number of extant files. Some files were sent to other areas of the Soviet Union, and some were destroyed after their retention periods expired. Some of the files sent to other regions of the USSR might still be held somewhere in Russia, though no data is available on whether they were preserved or destroyed. If the file was subsequently destroyed or sent away the entry was not removed from the register. Upon transfer of the fond to the Police Archives, new registers were created that listed only extant files. The files were included in the Estonian State Archives's Archival Informational System (AIS) in 2006.

A finding aid to this fond arranged by personal name is available in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digital files are available on computer stations in the Hoover Archives reading room. The files are searchable via uncorrected OCR.

PDF Inventory of Fond ERAF.132SM 

Physical Description: 104.0 digital_files

Fond ERAF.134SM includes materials relating to special investigations of employees of the Estonian Committee of State Security, 1944-1948, conducted by the Department of Internal Investigation according to departmental directives and instructions; statistical accounts; lists of destroyed documents; and correspondence. Personnel departments of state security institutions were responsible for surveillance of various aspects of employee activities. The Department of Internal Investigation was organized to perform surveillance of state security personnel.

No finding aid existed at the time the materials were collected. After the collection was transferred to the Police Archives, a finding aid to 104 files was compiled in November 1992. The documents in this fond were included in the Estonian Archival Informational System (AIS) in 2000.

A finding aid to this fond is available in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digital files are available on computer stations in the Hoover Archives reading room. The files are searchable via uncorrected OCR.

PDF Inventory of Fond ERAF.134SM 

Physical Description: 61.0 digital_files

After the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, the KGB of the Estonian SSR and its predecessors were located in Tallinn, Pagari Street 1. The archive of this organization was also kept there. Documents of this fond dated prior to 1940 were created by the Unites State Political Directorate (OGPU) and the Main State Security Directorate of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and sent to the KGB of the Estonian SSR at the end of the 1950s to be used in daily operational work. Some files created in Moscow and Tallinn were united. It should be kept in mind that after Estonia restored its independence in August 1991, the majority of documents of the KGB of the Estonian SSR were either taken out of Estonia or destroyed.

The materials of this fond were handed over to a representative of the Republic of Estonia in/after 1991. The alleged initiator of the process was Rein Sillar, the last head of the Estonian KGB. For some time the documents were placed with the Estonian Information Board, a body carrying out counterintelligence service in foreign countries.

Most of the materials were transferred to the Estonian State Archives, now a unit of the National Archives of Estonia, on November 15, 1994. On June 5, 1997, Eerik-Niiles Kross, representative of the Government Administration, handed over another batch of files. The file of Karl Talpak was received from Mart Laar, former prime minister.

There is no information about finding aids to the foreign intelligence files created by the KGB archives. After the fond was transferred to the National Archives of Estonia, it was processed, and the finding aid was created in 1996 and 1997.

A finding aid to this fond is available in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digital files are available on computer stations in the Hoover Archives reading room. The files are searchable via uncorrected OCR.

Fond ERAF.138SM consists of two series. The original filenames were preserved, with added information in brackets. Series 1 consists of card files (delo-formuliar), mainly relating to Estonian refugees.

Series 2 consists of letter-coded files (liternoe delo). Part of the files contains information about the situation in Estonia in 1924-1940 collected by the Soviet foreign intelligence (United State Political Directorate (OGPU) and Main Directorate of the State Security of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD)), including information about the economic and political situation, military and police, intelligence and counterintelligence, Russian refugees in Estonia, etc. They also reflect the exchange of information between Soviet political and military intelligence services. The second and smaller part of the files contains information about Estonian refugees in Germany and Sweden from post-World War II time through the 1960s. They also allow researchers to look into general conditions of, and strategic plans for, operational work, reports from agents, overview of refugee organizations, etc.

PDF Inventory of Fond ERAF.138SM 

Physical Description: 22.0 digital_files

Fond ERAF.140SM includes correspondence of the Committee of State Security of the Estonian SSR relating to reports of KGB officials, complaints and petitions of citizens, rehabilitation of individuals, and compensation for damage resulting from punitive actions imposed on them by security institutions.

The finding aid to the collection was created by the Police Department Archives staff. The documents in this fond were subsequently included in the Estonian Archival Informational System (AIS) in 2000.

A finding aid to this fond is available in the Hoover Archives reading room. The digital files are available on computer stations in the Hoover Archives reading room. The files are searchable via uncorrected OCR.

PDF Inventory of Fond ERAF.140SM