Status Updates From Vozes de Tchernóbil: A Hist...

Fifty rubles back then could get you a nice suit. And people talked more about the rubles than the radiation. They got these tiny bonuses. Or tiny anyway compared with the value of a human life.
It was funny and tragic at the same time.

The commander says: “Only volunteers go up on the roof. The rest can step aside, you’ll have a talk with the military prosecutor.” Well, those guys stood around, talked about it a little, and then agreed. If you took the oath, then you should do what you have to. I don’t think any of us doubted that they’d put us in jail for insubordination. They’d put out a rumor that it would be two to three years.

“Una cosa nunca vista destruía mi mundo anterior. Era algo que se introducía, que penetraba en ti. Al margen de tu voluntad”.

These were people who worked at the reactor—engineers, workers, physics instructors. They stood in the black dust, talking, breathing, wondering at it. People came from all around on their cars and their bikes to have a look. We didn’t know that death could be so beautiful.

The world has been split in two: there’s us, the Chernobylites, and then there’s you, the others. Have you noticed? No one here points out that they’re Russian or Belarussian or Ukrainian. We all call ourselves Chernobylites. “We’re from Chernobyl.” “I’m a Chernobylite.” As if this is a separate people. A new nation.