On 21 April, the Academic Library of Tallinn University officially opened Heritage Protection Month 2025. To mark the occasion, the Estonian Heritage Society unveiled a roll-up exhibition in the library’s first-floor gallery: “The Chairman of the Estonian SSR KGB Winning Friends and Influencing People”. The exhibition will remain open until 18 May, the end of Heritage Protection Month.
The exhibition highlights an extraordinary discovery from the collections of the Library for Preservation and Conservation: in 1987, a manually reproduced Russian translation of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People was gifted to Elmar Matt, Administrator of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR, for his birthday. Though the book was officially banned in the Soviet Union, it circulated in secret and was highly regarded by KGB officials as a practical guide. The exhibition sheds light on how such forbidden literature was reproduced in limited copies and distributed selectively to trusted individuals for internal use.
(Pillak, P. Tuna 4/2016)
The exhibition is part of the Heritage Protection Month 2025 programme, which aims to bring historical and cultural heritage closer to the public. Throughout the month, events will take place across Estonia – including clean-up campaigns at heritage sites, guided tours, seminars, discussions, exhibitions, and workshops.
You are warmly invited to visit the exhibition and discover a fascinating fragment of our recent past!