Novozybkov residents’ narrative about the Chernobyl disaster

Abstract

This article dwells on the oral memory of residents of the city of Novozybkov, Bryansk Region. It is based on the materials collected during the expedition to this city, which took place in September 2020 during the work on the project “The People’s History of Russia”. One of the main historical events that shaped the modern face of Novozybkov was the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. The consequences of this disaster seriously affected Novozybkov, a city located in less than 200 km from its epicenter. Although the locals did not hear the explosion itself, their city found itself in the path of the cloud of radioactive dust, because of which the soil in the city was poisoned, and a large part of the surrounding territories became uninhabitable. During the expedition, the stories told by Novozybkov residents concerning these events were often heard in interviews without any leading questions from the collectors. Analysis of interview transcripts demonstrated that oral memory of residents about the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster contains a number of common motifs. For example, there are stories about “that” day, about ominous signs and forebodings, about how local authorities hid the truth, about cases of miraculous escape from radiation, about repressions due to radioactive contamination and at the same time about support from the Soviet state, etc. Such stories, repeated in many interviews, can be viewed as a collective narrative by the residents of Novozybkov about Chernobyl. This narrative became not only an expression of shared common emotional assessment of the catastrophic event that changed Novozybkov forever, but also an important part of the collective identity of people representing this local community.