Status Updates From Voices from Chernobyl

“Para nosotros la victoria no es un acontecimiento, sino un proceso. La vida es lucha. De allí esa fascinación por las inundaciones, los incendios… Los terremotos… Es la necesidad de encontrar un lugar en el que poder actuar, para ‘dar muestras de valor y heroísmo’. Y luego izar la bandera”.

“De pronto empecé a dudar, ¿qué es mejor, recordar u olvidar? Pregunté a los amigos. Unos lo han olvidado, otros no quieren recordar, porque nosotros no podemos cambiar nada, ni siquiera podemos marcharnos de aquí. Ni siquiera eso”.

Oh, God, where do you find the strength to meet the things that the next day is going to bring?

I looked him in the eye and I said: “Why are you chasing one another? Why are you killing?” And he looked like he felt ashamed. “All right, ma’am, not so loud.” But when they’re together, they’re different. If there’d been three of them, or even two, they’d have put me up against the wall. When you’re one-on-one you can still talk to a person.

There’s only one government there—the man with the gun. In the morning I put the kids on the train to Astrakhan, I told the conductors to transport them like they do watermelons, to not open the door. [Silent. Then cries for a long time.] Is there anything more frightening than people?