Interviews with Chernobyl survivors

44 hours of video interviews entitled the “Living Voices of Chernobyl" were conducted by journalists Svetlana Alexievich and Tatiana Loginova. Among interviewees are local scientists, engineers, Communist Party officials, priests, politicians, mothers of children with leukemia, medical radiolog...

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Bibliographic Details
Institution:Open Society Archives at Central European University
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10891/hu_osa_331-0-2
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Summary:44 hours of video interviews entitled the “Living Voices of Chernobyl" were conducted by journalists Svetlana Alexievich and Tatiana Loginova. Among interviewees are local scientists, engineers, Communist Party officials, priests, politicians, mothers of children with leukemia, medical radiologists, immigrants, and others from the "zone." Of particular value are the interviews with Vasilii Nesterneko, former director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Belarus Academy of Sciences, who describes the impotence and hypocrisy of the Soviet authorities following the Chernobyl explosion. Also important are interviews with leading Belarus scientists about the dangers of Chernobyl and the strategies for confronting the various effects of the disaster. Doctors’ accounts are likewise informative. The interviews also document the nature of the decontamination work, peoples’ ignorance about radiation, and daily life after the explosion when people remained uninformed about the events at Chernobyl. Accruals not expected