Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] selected records, 1920-1991

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Summary

Creators:

Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti and Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas

Abstract:

Reports, memoranda, correspondence, lists, directives, and other documents relating to secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence activities, dissident and anti-Soviet activities, and repatriation and nationalism issues, in Lithuania.

Extent:

1445 microfilm reels, 877 PDF files (161,277 digital pages) (161.25 Linear Feet)

Language:

In Russian and Lithuanian

Preferred citation:

Microfilm reels: [Identification of item], reel [number], Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas selected records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Originals in Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas, Fond [number], opis [number], file [number].

Digital files: [Identification of item] (Digital copy), [digital file name], Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas selected records, Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Originals in Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas, Fond [number], opis [number], file [number].

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of selected opisi (records series) from what were the fifty-four opisi in Fond No. K-1, Lietuvos SSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas (Committee of State Security of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, LSSR KGB), 1940-1991, held at the Lietuvos Ypatingasis Archyvas (Lithuanian special archives).

Over the years that Hoover acquired these materials, the Lithuanian special archives renamed many of the opisi in Fond K-1 and assigned them new fond and opis numbers. As a result, the materials at Hoover are described in three categories: (1) Fond No. K-1 opisi that are unchanged; (2) Fond No. K-1 opisi that Hoover received before new numbers were assigned; and (3) Fond No. K-1 opisi that Hoover received after new numbers were assigned. The numbering used at Hoover is outlined below. In all cases, the alternate numbers and titles are provided parenthetically in the series descriptions.

CATEGORY	NUMBERS USED AT HOOVER	ACTIONS TAKED BY LIETUVOS YPATINGASIS ARCHYVAS
1	Fond K-1, opis 10	Fond and opis numbers unchanged
2	Fond K-1, opis 2, 3, 14, 45	Renumbered as new fondy after Hoover received materials
3	Fond K-15 through K-42 (with gaps)	Renumbered as new fondy before Hoover received materials

The collection contains reports, memoranda, correspondence, lists, directives, and other documents related to intelligence and counter-intelligence activities of the secret police against dissident and anti-Soviet movements and to problems with repatriation and nationalism in Lithuania.

Nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union the Lithuanian KGB-MVD archives are the largest accessible holdings of the Soviet political police (Russian holdings are for all practical purposes closed, and Ukraine just started the process of opening their KGB archives), which were left almost intact in Vilnius, Lithuania, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The materials document the establishment and operation of the Soviet punitive organizations from 1940 to 1991 in a key Soviet republic that was both a frontier region and a bridge to the West. They cover key subjects such as the initial annexation of the Baltic republics; World War II; the post-war struggle against anti-Soviet nationalist guerillas; collectivization of the countryside; reform of the Soviet system after Stalin's death; reactions to upheaval in Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, Poland in 1980-1981, and the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe; reactions to increasing exposure to the West; and the final collapse of the Soviet power.

The fonds cover different aspects of the establishment, operation, and demise of the KGB in Lithuania: operational material on the struggle against individual and collective political dissent, anti-Soviet guerrillas, foreign intelligence and radio broadcasts (Fond K-1, opis 3); the NKVD-NKGB-MGB-KGB secretariat, which gathered information on political community spirit and activities from local organizations and transferred them to Moscow (Fond K-1, opis 10); political information gathered by the local NKGB-KGB departments, chiefly in Vilnius and Kaunas (Fond K-1, opis 14 and Fond K-18, opis 2); a vast collection of material on dissidents, their investigation, interrogation, and trials (Fond K-1, opis 2); files pertaining to 784 convicts and listing more than 700 of those shot during 1944-1947 in the inner prison of the NKGB-MGB of the Lithuanian SSR (Fond K-15, opis 2); documents relating to inspection of surveillance-operative, counterintelligence, and investigatory work of MGB-KGB agencies of the LSSR; materials concerning inspection of punishment administration (Fond K-16, opis 1); documents relating to inspection of internal cells of the LSSR MGB and pretrial detention wards of the LSSR KGB in uezds and cities (Fond K-17, opisi 1 and 2); directives for struggle against the Lithuanian armed underground issued by the oblast level MGB directorates (Fond K-19, opis 1); directives from the SSSR NKGB-MGB-MVD relating to search of state criminals (Fond K-20, opis 1); directives of the SSSR NKVD representative for the Lithuanian SSR relating to the struggle against the armed underground (Fond K-21, opis 1); materials of special SSSR NKVD departments of the 29th territorial Red Army corps, reflecting NKVD efforts of "purging" the 29th corps (former Lithuanian army) of the "hostile and untrustworthy elements" (Fond K-22, opis 1); minutes of the Republican Commission for revision of criminal cases of persons convicted of "counterrevolutionary crimes" (Fond K-23, opis 1); reports to the Main Transport Directorate of the SSSR NKGB-KGB and correspondence with communist party institutions and Soviet authorities (Fond K-26, opis 1); orders of the director of the Lithuanian school for training operative personnel and other documents of the school (Fond K-27, opis 1); orders of the NKGB-KGB of the LSSR, its General Service Department, and the Construction Department of the LSSR MGB (Fond K-31, opis 1); working plans, memoranda, and reports prepared by MGB-KGB of the Lithuanian SSR and subdivisions of the NKVD-MVD of the Lithuanian SSR and lists of individuals arrested in Lithuania (mostly in Vilnius and Kaunas) in 1940-1941, memorandum on the activities of individuals suspected of war crimes and residing outside the Soviet Union, and other documents; (Fond K-40, opisi 1 and 2); and correspondence of USSR KGB divisions with KGB divisions in Lithuanian SSR concerning methodological literature and work with KGB cadres and plans, reports, and informational statements of the LSSR KGB subdivisions (Fond K-42, opisi 1 and 2).

In the case of the microfilm, the opisi were chosen by the Hoover Institution from records already microfilmed by the Lithuanian special archives. Before sending the microfilm to Hoover the Lithuanian special archives removed some files and pages from the microfilm. Deleted files and pages contained personal names that could not be released due to personal privacy concerns. Entire files removed from the microfilm are indicated in the reel contents list on the microfilm at the beginning of each opis. Pages removed from files on the microfilm are indicated by a splice on the microfilm, but splices can also occur for technical microfilming reasons. In many cases gaps in the sequential pagination in the original file indicate where pages were deleted, as well as how many were deleted. Pages removed from the digitized files, also due to privacy concerns, are indicated by a note in their place within the file.

Russian-language finding aids created by the Lithuanian special archives are included in the microfilm at the beginning of each opisi, in the Hoover Archives reading room, and within this file. The finding aids are arranged by file number and provide a description, number of pages, and the inclusive dates of each file.

The microfilm reel numbers used are those originally assigned by the Lithuanian special archives. They do not always run in a continuous, logical sequence, but they contain the entire opis. In addition, the microfilm often refers to the original fond and opis numbers, before the Lithuanian special archives renamed and renumbered much of the collection.

Biographical / historical:

Lithuanian branch of the Soviet secret police organization Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti.

Acquisition information:

Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library Archives in 2009. Several increments were received from 2010 to 2014.

Physical location:

Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Secret service -- Soviet Union
Police -- Soviet Union
Nationalism -- Lithuania
Dissenters -- Lithuania
Police -- Lithuania
Places:: Lithuania -- History -- Soviet occupation, 1940-1941
Lithuania -- Politics and government -- 1945-1991

Access and use

Restrictions:: 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.