KGB Cells Museum, Tartu, Estonia

During the 47 years of Soviet occupation in Estonia approximately 122,000 people fell victims to different repressions from the security organs and more than 30,000 of them lost their life. The South Centre of Soviet security service NKVD and later KGB was located in Tartu, in the so-called gray house.

The dungeon was located in the basement and cells have been restored to the original appearance as part of the museum's permanent exhibition. The KGB Museum reflects the Soviet occupation of Estonia and the history of Estonian Resistance Movement. In the display you can find plans drawn by the Soviet authorities for conducting deportation operations, leaflets distributed by the school children's underground organizations, objects from the GULAG prison camps, as well as a great number of other photos and documents illustrating Estonian near history.

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KBG Cells Museum

User Reviews

Tural Karimov (3 years ago)
30 minutes enough. Overall, it's good place to visit if you are interested in history and ofc soviets. It would be nice if there are more to discover. Museum may have interesting exhibition in the future. For now, it was about '' Russia - Georgia War 2008'' , the topic itself is interesting to me but the quality of exhibition was not good and it was only in Estonian

voicu vlad (3 years ago)
Impressive and sad. Definitely a must see. Would recommend to take 20 minutes to listen to the testimony recording.

Brisippus (4 years ago)
Such an interesting piece of history that’s been preserved. It’s a heavy experience, not something that’s pleasant to learn about but important to understand and really well done. It’s scary to think about what has gone on in these rooms, but it’s nice that they’re now being used in an educational way. The exhibits are really well done.

Sille Alabert (4 years ago)
Very interesting museum, the real old KGB prison where estonians were kept as prinioners and tortured by russians.

Satoshi Mts (4 years ago)
This place is small, but the building still remains as original. It was a strong message just seeing the aisle and doors for prisoners' room and the torturing chair. It's a worth place to understand the modern Estonian history as well

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