Tallinn's Soviet Legacy

During World War II Estonia was forcibly integrated into the USSR and spend most of the 20th century under Soviet occupation. After Estonians regained their independence in 1991 they were quick to sweep aside the Lenin statues and other remnants of the regime and get on to rebuilding. Still, a half-century of history did leave its mark, so there are still quite a few reminders of that bygone era for curious visitors to find.


KGB Headquarters
It’s safe to say that this ominous-looking building with bricked-up basement windows was once the single most feared place in the city. It was here at the headquarters of the NKVD (later renamed the KBG) that perceived enemies of the state were interrogated and then either shot or sent to Siberian work camps...

Maarjamäe War Memorial
During the 60s and 70s a grandiose, sprawling World War II memorial was created in virtually every Soviet city. Tallinn’swar memorial complex is located on the coast, along thehighway that leads to Pirita Beach. The four-sided spire wasput up in 1960 as a memorial to Russians who died in 1918...

Museum of Occupation and of Fight for Freedom
Opened in summer 2003, this modern museum is the first in the nation dedicated to the 1939 - 1991 time period, during which Estonia was occupied briefly by the Germans, and for a longer time by the Soviet Union...

Architecture

The Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Kadriorg, completed in 1960, was considered an achievement in Modernism. Ironically, song festivals held here in the 1980s became an important part of Estonia’s independence movement...