The Baltics - Tallinn & Riga

Soviet patrol boat - Tallinn harbor

This small patrol boat came alongside as we approached the harbor, and the uniformed men you can see on the foredeck boarded our ferry. After the ship docked, we debarked in single file via a narrow step-gangway to the dock. There we were met by one of the uniformed officers, who gave each of us a long look as he checked our passports and visas. 

Passport and border control, I understand, was the responsibility of a branch of the KGB - the Soviet security and intelligence service. To my mind, "KGB" evoked thoughts of "secret police" spying on, and arresting, ordinary Soviet citizens for political, intellectual or cultural dissent. I think this was a typical American point of view, and it is generally accurate.

So, the man who checked our passports was a KGB officer. He was perfect for the part – trim, compact and athletic, unsmiling, steely blue eyes, thoroughly intimidating. Even today, I can see him clearly in my mind's eye.

We then went through a close search of our luggage by customs officers. A number of items of reading material were confiscated, including newspapers, a Playboy magazine, and a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. I remember one of the customs officers laughing as he held up the Playboy magazine to show his co-workers. Several elderly, retired teachers among our chaperones were trying to bring in Bibles for friends in the Soviet Union. The authorities allowed them to keep only one Bible each. 

We boarded buses after clearing border security and customs, but our departure was delayed because the authorities held back some members of our group for more extensive questioning. One student had a copy of a book by Leon Trotsky - a leader of the Bolshevik Revolution who later fell from favor and was eventually murdered at Stalin's behest. That student was taken aside and hot-boxed for some time by the border control officers. He was visibly shaken when he re-joined the group. Eventually everyone was on board and we were ready to go.

All in all, this process was dramatically different from our entry into Sweden and Finland a few days earlier. It made an impression.

"KGB" is a transliteration of  the Russian «КГБ», the acronym for «Комитет государственной безопасности» (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti). The name translates as "Committee for State Security." The KGB was responsible for international espionage and counter-espionage, as well as internal political security. A Wikipedia article on the KGB is found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB

As a side note - Vladimir Putin, the current President of the Russian Federation and its most powerful political leader for the past decade or more, was a KGB officer stationed in East Germany for sixteen years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. He then went into politics.