Unmasking the Committee
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- Category: Culture
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16 Feb 2012
Adventurous films, books and TV series have given life to secret agents for decades. From James Bond to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., spies placed their lives in jeopardy fighting against those who wanted to conquer the world. Whether in the 1960s or the 2000s, all the secret agents have used sophisticated weapons, encrypted codes and high-tech gadgets.
Many of those gadgets and technology were futuristic ideas. However, many others were taken from real intelligence agencies’ equipment, as used by actual spies and counterspies. Likewise, having the secret headquarters’ entrance in visible and crowded public places was a practice as real as the KGB’s headquarters, located on the top floor of the Viru Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia.
The strategically located Sokos-Viru Hotel was built in 1972, mainly to accommodate foreigners, but also to house the KGB, or Committee for State Security. The organisation was active in the hotel from 1972 to 1991, with secret agents mingling with foreign tourists who never suspected they were surrounded by Russian spies.
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KGB Museum
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In January 2011, Viru opened the KGB Museum. The museum preserves the rooms and equipment used by the KGB and presents the story of two different worlds sharing the same time and space. One world, existing mostly on paper, contained the supposedly happy Soviet people, who enjoyed a life of plenty and friendship led by a single political party. There were no accidents, no catastrophes, no choice of clothes sizes nor extra sugar for their cup of tea. The other world had a much more complicated and diverse nature and was kept secret from the common comrade.
Part of that secret is now unveiled; anyone can visit the KGB museum and learn about the Cold War days. The admission ticket includes a half-hour bus tour that familiarises visitors with local KGB history, concentrating on the period that the organisation was active in the hotel. The tour leads to the top floor with amazing stories, the secret archives and even the red hotline telephone direct to the Powers that Were. All in all, an unforgettable journey back in time for those interested in secret agents’ real stories, history and old technology.
SUSAN FOURTANÉ
HELSINKI TIMES
