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Museum of the History of Political Police

St Petersburg

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In the very same building that housed the tsarist and the Bolshevik secret police offices, this small museum recounts the history of this controversial institution and includes one room that recreates the office of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police). Each of the remaining three rooms is devoted to the secret police during a different period of history: the tsarist police, the Cheka and the KGB.

Exhibitions are heavy on photographs and documents, but some of them are fascinating. Some explanatory materials are available in English.

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