“Chernobyl blew up my brain. I began to think.” Do Belarusians remember the Chernobyl disaster? / Script

This is a translation of the article into Latvian.
Авторская версия па-беларуску — here.
Авторская версия на русском — here.

…But then the mother came running. She was very upset. She took us home, closed the windows of the apartment tightly, quickly washed us and changed us into other clothes. Even later, when I was an adult, my mother told me that our neighbor had somehow found out about the accident and warned us.

To be honest, what I remember from this story myself, but what from what was told by those who were older than me, it is difficult to say now. Many years have passed. And in our family, this topic was not much discussed, like politics, religion, World War II and many other topics. There are families who simply live their daily lives without thinking about anything global.

Belarusians are still searching for the truth about the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster

In Belarus, after the Chernobyl accident, more than 3,600 settlements, including 27 cities, where 2.2 million people lived – about a fifth of the entire population – fell into the zone of radioactive contamination. In general, 479 settlements ceased to exist – their inhabitants were ordered to move elsewhere.

Now the official press of Belarus and the men of the state authorities are reporting that after the Chernobyl accident, the contaminated areas supposedly “cleaned up” by themselves.

Although only 38 years have passed, but not thousands and hundreds of thousands, as required by the laws of physics.

“The general trend of the radioactive situation is a gradual decrease in the density of pollution, due to the natural decay of radionuclides,” writes the Department of Nuclear Safety and Radiation Safety of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus “Gosatomnadzor”. However, my heart and mind are not at peace. Both experience and intuition tell me: civil servants lie like in the “good old” Soviet times.

“A cross between a prison and a kindergarten – that’s what socialism is”

I began to realize the nature and scale of the Chornobyl tragedy during my school years, when I read the book “Chornobyl prayer. Chronicle of the future” (published in Latvian under the title “Chernobyl. Prayer” – Ed.). Its author is the Belarusian writer Svyatlan Aleksievich, who later became a Nobel Prize laureate in literature. It is also emotionally difficult for an adult to read it, let alone for a sensitive 13-14-year-old girl. I read by heart, books were my best friends since early childhood, and everything I learned about the world came directly from books. I literally swallowed this work – in one night.

And then I didn’t sleep for several more days, trying to comprehend what I had read.

In ten years, Svyatlan Aleksievich has spoken with more than five thousand witnesses of the accident – firefighters, liquidators, politicians, doctors, physicists and, of course, ordinary citizens. The book is freely available on the Internet. Here are some quotes from it.

“Chernobyl blew up my brain. I started thinking.”

“We returned home. I took off everything, all the clothes I had on, threw them in the garbage chute. But I gave the boater hat to my little son. He asked a lot. He wore it without taking it off. Two years later, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor…”

“Before Chornobyl… there were 82 oncological cases per 100,000 inhabitants of Belarus. Today, the statistics are as follows: per 100,000 – six thousand patients. Almost 74 times more.”

“A cross between a prison and a kindergarten – this is what socialism is. Soviet socialism. A person gave his soul, conscience, heart to the country, but in return he received a ration of food. Who was lucky – someone had a large ration, and another – a small one. One thing was common – it is given in exchange for a soul.”

The memory of Chornobyl is forbidden, the truth is forbidden, the homeland is forbidden

Every year, civil society activists in Minsk organized the action “Čarnobylski shlach” (“Chernobyl Road”), commemorating the day of the Chernobyl disaster. Now it is impossible to hold such mass events in Belarus. Belarusians hold commemorative actions, including “Chernobyl Week”, in the countries to which they had to flee after the events of 2020.

But on the same November 7, 2020, with the participation of Alexander Lukashenko, the first power unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was started up in Astraviec. Starting in 2023, the dictator announces that Russia is preparing to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of my country at his request. Whether they have already been delivered to Belarus is not known for sure yet.

Yes, the Belarusian regime in the country had announced the “republican decade of socially patriotic works” Chornobyl. Preserving the memory of…””, in which the state educational institutions must participate. It was especially emphasized: “When implementing the decade’s activities, it is recommended to use information available on official Internet portals, including scientific works and visual materials, video films, video clips, animated films, etc.”

So that teachers clearly know what censorship allows to tell in lessons about the Chornobyl tragedy, but what it is better not to mention and keep silent.

*** * ***

“During the day we lived in the new place, but at night in our native place. In a dream.”

That’s what people who were told to move away from radiation-contaminated areas said.

Now this sense of division between two countries torments many Belarusian and Ukrainian refugees scattered around the world – Belarusians because of the dictatorship and Ukrainians because of the war.

We rarely talk about it and almost always – only among ourselves, with those who don’t have to explain. We almost never bring this feeling outside, we don’t write about it. But here I tried to write.

I have been safe in Latvia for a long time. It has long become my second home.