Inventory of the Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee [Estonian KGB] records
Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2012, 2014
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee [Estonian KGB] records
Date (inclusive): 1924-1991
Collection Number: 2012C26
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: In Russian and Estonian
Physical Description:
17,197 GB
(6741.0 digital_files)
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.
Creator:
Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti
Creator:
Eesti NSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
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.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2012.
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 Originals
Eesti Riigarkhiv, Tallinn, Estonia.
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.
Historical Note
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Related Collections
Archives of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State microfilm collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Latvijas PSR Valsts Drošības Komiteja [ Latvian KGB] selected records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Lietuvos SSR Valstybes Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] selected records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
RFE/RL broadcast records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Sak'art'velos SSR sakhelmtsipo ušišroebis komiteti [Georgian KGB] records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Secret service -- Soviet Union
Police -- Soviet Union
Refugees
Nationalism -- Estonia
Estonia -- History -- Soviet occupation, 1940-1941
Dissenters -- Estonia
Police -- Estonia
Estonia -- Politics and government -- 1940-1991
Fond ERAF.129SM - ENSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee lõpetamata uurimistoimikute kollektsioon (Incomplete investigative files
of the State Security Committee of the Estonian SSR)
1932-1990
Physical Description: 2319.0 digital_files
Scope and Contents note
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.
Fond ERAF.132SM - ENSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee filtratsioonilaagri toimikute kollektsioon (Records of filtration [temporary
detention] camps)
1944-1991
Physical Description: 4235.0 digital_files
Scope and Contents note
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.
Fond ERAF.134SM - ENSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee eriinspektsiooni materjalide kollektsioon (Records of the Special Investigation
Department of the Committee of State Security (KGB) of the Estonian SSR)
1940-1958
Physical Description: 104.0 digital_files
Scope and Contents note
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.
Fond ERAF.138SM - ENSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee välisluure toimikute kollektsioon (Foreign intelligence files of the Committee
of State Security of the Estonian SSR)
1924-1968
Physical Description: 61.0 digital_files
Custodial History Note
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.
Arrangement Statement
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.
Fond ERAF.140SM - ENSV Riikliku Julgeoleku Komitee kirjavahetuse kollektsioon (Correspondence of the Committee of State Security
of the Estonian SSR)
1989-1991
Physical Description: 22.0 digital_files
Scope and Contents note
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.