The history of the Tallinn Battery Prison is full of sadness, horror and violence, writes a Finnish journalist. But what he tells has as much to the story as the Finnish TV series filmed in this prison. His article is just a listing of the "horrors of the Soviet occupation" in their official Russophobic interpretation adopted in modern Estonia.
The Battery Prison (Patarei) is located a few kilometers from the center of Tallinn in the Kalamaja region. The building, which, according to the decree of Nicholas II, was to become a fortress, was built in 1840. After the completion of construction, it was nevertheless consecrated as a barracks, and in 1920, after Estonia gained independence, it began to be used as a prison.
Like Estonia itself, the prison was run by both communists and Nazis. At one time, Battery Prison was one of the most frightening and hated places in Estonia.
Although the prison stopped operating in 2002, its story continues to be troubling and sad.
For Estonians, the very name of a prison is associated with pain, suffering, shame and death.
The owner changed, it didn't get better
In the 1920s - 1940s, the Battery Prison was under the control of the Estonians - until at the beginning of the Second World War, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union. Nazi Germany, in turn, occupied Estonia from 1942 to 1944. Then the Battery Prison became part of the history of the Holocaust.
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In September 1941, over 200 Estonian Jews were killed in the basement of a Tallinn prison. About 300 French Jews were brought to Battery Prison in Convoy 73, after which they were sent to the Klooga concentration camp in western Estonia.
At the end of World War II, the Germans left Estonia. Tallinn was again occupied by the Red Army, and Soviet rule was established in Estonia. Tallinn prison was filled with Soviet political prisoners, including both resistance fighters and government officials. The prisoners were interrogated, tortured and systematically killed in the bowels of the prison.
There is a notorious execution room in Battery Prison, where KGB agents shot a huge number of people during the Cold War. Usually a prisoner found out about his sentence a minute before being shot.
The prisoner was taken to a room where he lay face down on the floor. The last gasp was followed by two shots to the head. One is to kill, the other is to make sure the job is done. There was a grate in the floor of the room, under which there was a sewer. After the execution, blood flowed there, fragments of the skull and pieces of the brain were swept away. This room was last used in 1991.
The execution room, like most of the prison, has remained virtually unchanged. In addition to the execution room, the Tallinn prison has a separate hanging room, in the floor of which a special square hole was cut.
The most difficult time for the prisoners began in the 1950s after the death of the leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin. The Soviet Union began to treat Estonia stricter than before. The critics of the country's leadership also began to be treated more cruelly.
Torture, violence and executions were commonplace. The prison was so overcrowded that the promenade was converted into outdoor cells.
The battery prison ceased to exist in 2002, and until 2005 the building housed the prison hospital. Many objects are still preserved here, which were left behind when the prison premises were vacated.
There are also many mysticism and scary stories associated with the prison. One of the most famous places in Battery Prison was Cell 101. A cell whose door was welded on because of the terrible things that happened in it.
The head of the former Battery Prison Museum, Andrus Villem, said that cell 101 was a place that both prisoners and guards walked around from afar. The mortality rate of people who visited the cell was very high. Therefore, according to Willem, the door of this cell is never opened again.
All people who have visited the prison since its closure speak of the feeling of depression and the heavy atmosphere that still reigns in the place. Countless horror stories are told about the prison building, many of which involve individual cells.
One of the most eerie places in the prison is the hospital wing, where the operating room and procedural room have been preserved almost intact. It is said that during the Cold War, Soviet doctors performed cruel medical experiments on prisoners in Battery Prison. Blood splatters are still visible on the beds.
The future is unknown
Like many other Soviet buildings, the Battery Prison was left to fend for itself. It is considered one of the largest monuments to the victims of communism and Nazism, as well as a symbol of the martyrs of Estonia.
The interiors of the former prison have attracted countless tourists and artists. The corridors of the prison were used for filming horror and ghost movies, as well as various TV series. For example, episodes for the Finnish TV series Ghost Tracks (Aaveiden jäljillä) were filmed here in 2018.
In 2016, the prison was closed to tourists due to the poor condition of the building. At the moment, the future of the prison is unknown. In April 2018, the news reported that the Estonian government had decided to sell the prison at an auction. The buyer has to restore the buildings that belonged to the prison, as well as the embankment around the prison, within six years.
They want to keep the prison as it is an important object in the history of Estonia and the Baltic states. According to rough estimates, the renovation will cost about 70-80 million euros. Part of the prison will be turned into a museum of the crimes of communism, so that the world will never forget the horrors of that cold and inconsolable period.
Aino Haili