Helsinki, Tallinn and Stockholm - Part 6 - KGB in Tallinn

The KGB were active in Tallinn while it was under Soviet Control.  In that time Tallinn was a key destination for tourists and the KGB were keen to ensure that they had a good experience but did not take anything of tactical value away from their visit.

The Sokos Hotel Viru was first opened on May 5 1972 and was constructed by Finnish workers.  The construction site caught fire in 1970 but this was supressed under usual Soviet news control.

The hotel officially has 22 floors, but a 23rd was used as a KGB listening post to track guests of the hotel.  60 of the rooms were bugged and the guests were monitored in a variety of different ways.  One visitor from Finland noted than on over 50 stays he only ever got places in one of three rooms - obviously those ones that were bugged.

The hotel elevator only goes to floor 22 and the only way to access floor 23 was by a gated staircase.  Workers and guests were told that the 23rd floor hosted elevator controls and wasn't a full floor.

View from the 22nd floor (bending due to the panoramic function)

The view from the hotel is awesome, but back in soviet times the windows were blacked out, despite the 22nd floor hosting a restaurant just on the other side of the glass from this view.  It was believed that spies could record the layout of the city if they were able to see the view.

The hotel was created to house everything a guest could need to prevent foreigners from needing to enter Estonia and risk seeing something they shouldn't.  If a guest wanted to visit town they were given a driver who was a KGB agent who could show them only what was allowed to be seen.

The hotel had a dentist, shoemaker, sound studio, tailor and hairdresser.  All possible amenities of the time were available such as spas and saunas as well as restaurants and bars.  It made the hotel a place for locals to come to feel as though they were abroad.  The hotel also hosted a variety theater for the elite and the tickets were treated as currency.

Some of the papers from the old hotel

The employees of the hotel were strictly controlled and monitored.  Letters of authorization and written orders were issues if someone needed to make photocopies or send faxes and also to control the amount of food served and the good supplied to the hotel.

The employees were forbidden to interact with foreigners more than necessary to do their jobs and any found in violation could be made a Persona Non Grata.

Estonia now uses the Euro, but Estonia originally used the Estonian Kroon. During Russian times the Rouble and the Finnish Mark were used but it was considered illegal to convert currencies.





There is a balcony on Floor 23 with excellent views, where the KGB staff would come for a smoke or a break:

View from floor 23

View

The first room we visited was for the head of the hotel.  He had a red phone which connected him directly to KGB headquarters.  The white phone was very heavy as it was filled with solid metal to prevent listening devices.

Using the phones

View from the office.  the big grey roofed building next to the church is the former KGB Headquaters

Tomas receives the call

The KGB used a variety of tools to listen in on and spy on guests of interest and some were demonstrated in the listening room - a camera with an extended lens allowed taking of photos from small holes in the walls.

The camera demonstrated

The camera

Map of the extra wiring in the hotel, showing which rooms were bugged

Staff were forbidden from handling foreign currency or holding anything from foreign visitors.  In order to test loyalty, purses with red dye bombs were often planted in rooms or around the hotel.  Staff members were expected to take them, unopened, to the management.  Anyone opening one would get a face full of red dye that would take a week or two to wear off.

The purse

Dye bomb

The listening equipment

The KGB usually had 10 workers in the hotel and were focused on foreigners but more importantly expatriate Estonians.  There are stories of visitors from American entering a room and noticing there was no toilet paper.  They exclaimed "The commies don't even have toilet paper!" and a few minutes later a flustered maid appeared with a basket of paper at the door.

Listening equipment

Other equipment - hidden cameras and cuff link microphones

KGB uniforms - however the officers at the hotel were plainclothed.

The door to the listening room - translates to "There is nothing here."

Demonstrating plates that had listening devices fitted into the bases.  Staff at the restaurant were given marked lists showing which tables to pay special attention to

Estonian women were employed to sit at tables on the hotel floors and record information on travelers such as numbers, luggage and who visited which rooms.  This was collected and passed on to the KGB.  Older, married women were chosen as they were less likely to dally with the foreign men.

View over the city wall

Helsinki, Tallinn and Stockholm - Part 5 Castle, Walls and Towers

Tallinn's old town is surrounded by a medieval city wall dotted with defensive towers.

A model of Tallinn's towers and city wall - Fat Margaret is on the far left, Toompea is just out of sight on the top right and the town hall is in the centre

A map showing the wall and towers

 Here's some of our shots of the city walls:

City walls and tower

City walls and construction

Inside of the city walls

Inside of city walls

Walk inside the city walls

City wall and Tallitorn (Stable Tower)

An interesting shot - the new skyscrapers through the old city walls

City walls and towers (this is Neitsitorn - Maiden's Tower)

Neitsitorn (Maiden's Tower)
Neitsitorn is a tower first mentioned in 1373, it houses a small museum and a walk along the walls.

Neitsitorn info

Monk Statue outside Neitsitorn

Monk Statue outside Neitsitorn

Monk Statue outside Neitsitorn

Inside of the city walls leading to Neitsitorn

View from the city walls

View down to Neitsitorn

The next tower was the slightly humorously sounding Kiek in De Kok, which literally means Peek into the Kitchen - a Germany tower name used in a few places for tall defensive towers.

Kiek in De Kok

View from Kiek in De Kok

A worrying emergency escape from the higher levels of Kiek in De Kok

Leads to a pretty serious drop

View from Kiek in De Kok

 Toompea Castle
 Our next stop was Toompea Castle.  This castle has been in use since the 9th century and is now used as a house of Parliament.

Tower and side wall of Toompea Castle

Front facade of the Castle

Lower side walls of the castle

A weird mix of house, castle and tower

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral
Directly across from Toompea Castle was the very impressive Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Its an Orthodox cathedral build in 1894:

The cathedral was crowded when we first arrived as a ceremony was taking place.

Entry to the Cathedral

 Alexander Nevsky Cathederal

Ceremony

Procession

Interior

Photos weren't allowed to be taken in the church, but here's a stock shot from Wikipedia:

There were several other impressive churches we visited:

St Olaf's Church and Tower

St Olaf's Church and Tower

This church and tower were built in the 12th century. It has a total height of 125m and can easily been seen from sea on approach.

The tower visible over the city

St Nicholas' Church
This church was built in the 13th century and was partly destroyed in World War II.  It has been restored and houses an art museum:

St Nicholas' Spire

St Nicholas' Church

St Nicholas' Spire

Saint Mary's Cathedral Toomkirk (Dome Church)
This church was built in the  13th century and was the only building to survive the fire in the 17th century.

Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's

Town Hall
The Tallinn Town Hall was built in 1404 and is the oldest Town Hall in the Baltic Region and Scandinavia.

Town Hall

Dragon gargoyle

Freedom Square

Freedom square celebrates the Estonian War of Independance 1918-1920.  During Soviet Occupation, the square was known as Victory Square:

Looking down over victory square

Path down to Freedom Square

Path from Freedom Square

Top of the Freedom pillar

Looking out over Freedom Square

Katariina Kaik (St Catherine's Passage)
This is a medieval passageway through Tallinn:

Entering the passage

Hanging on the walls of the passage were Tombstones from the Church of St Catherine of Alexandria.  The stones were from members of the Magistrates of Tallinn, the Brotherhood of Blackheads and the Great Guild.

The tombstones in order were:
1 -  Kunigunde Schotelmund (1381)
2 - HR Adolfus / MR Adolfus (1330) Arnoldus De Hove (1371)
3 - Perek Bremen, Fam Bremen (1388)
4 - Diderick Bocholt (1501)
5 - Lodovicus De Holte (1437)
6 - Berent Pael (1503)
7 - Hinricus Cocus (1385)
8 - Johan Oldendorp (1448)
9 - Tundatu Isik / Unknown (1468)
10 - Tidemanus De Hereke (1488)
11 - Hans Verlink (1470)
12 - Hans Fient (1425)

Tombstones 1 and 2

Tombstones 3,4 and 5

Tombstones 1-5

Tombstones 3 -11

Tombstone 12

Ornamentation on the tombstone

St Catherine's Passage

St Catherine's Passage

Medieval Torture Museum
We did a quick visit to the Medieval Torture Museum.  It was fairly expensive and was only two rooms of replica equipment. It was interesting, but not really worth the price:

Ryan Air Aircraft seat (luxury version as its a little wider)

Replica of our room on the ferry

Medieval Torture Museum - that fan looks pretty nasty!

Medieval Torture Museum