The Torment of Open Chernobyl Wounds – Hundreds of Thousands Died but Thousands Continued to Writhe in Pain

At the end of April, millions of former Soviet citizens commemorate the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor on April 26, 1986. The families of 6,000 Tajiks who were suddenly removed from Tajikistan in the spring of 1989 serve as an example; the young men were taken to "help build houses in Russia" and they reappeared only in the autumn of that year – changed beyond recognition  (here). The  Soviets  took  the  young  Tajiks  completely  unexpectedly  and  under false pretenses; the men found
themselves in Chernobyl to clear the effects of the explosion near the reactor. Today, only 1,800 of those 6,000 live, and 1,450 of those 1,800 are disabled. Some of the returned men became infertile and some gave birth to ill children; 1300 children were born with deformities or chronic diseases. It was not until 2007 that the law on social assistance to citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster was adopted in Tajikistan, but according to the testimony of affected families, disability benefits hardly suffice for medicines. However, the liquidators received medals, and a monument was built for them onto which wreaths were laid a few days ago (here).

The Chernobyl disaster is one of the greatest crimes of the totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. Of course, nuclear technology is not to blame for the accident and its consequences, just as chemistry is not to blame for gassing people. Modern technology in the hands of totalitarian regimes is still a major threat today, as evidenced by the coronavirus leaked from the prestigious virus laboratory in Wuchan, which Western scientists suspected of developing biological weapons even several years ago (here).

Emergencies similar to those in Chernobyl before the tragic explosion were common in the Soviet Union. The reactor at the power plant 70 km from Leningrad almost exploded as early as 1975. The authorities often did not even stop the reactors during the radioactivity leaks. The Chernobyl power plant was considered to be one of the safest because it had, on average, "only" five technological accidents a year. An atmosphere of secrecy and fear was the best breeding ground for industrial accidents and for maximizing casualties. After the Chernobyl explosion, the Soviet authorities exposed millions of citizens to unnecessary doses to "prevent panic" and to sweep everything under the rug as quickly as possible. Although the radiation intensity in Kiev in the first days after the explosion was up to 100 mR/h, the comrades did not want to be deprived of the May Day parade. At that time, of course, the Czech comrades also organized an annual parade as well; fortunately, the winds did not blow towards Prague, which was not known at that time, but no wind would have prevented the comrades from having to parade their humiliated subjects under the rostrum anyway. Soon after the explosion, the Czech press enthusiastically reported on how Chernobyl returns to life, and how art ensembles from Kiev visit in the Chernobyl House of Culture (here). 

We have seen movies showing brave young men rushing into space near the broken reactor, grabbing pieces of glowing graphite with their bare hands and running back, with someone measuring their time, it shouldn't have taken them more than a few tens of seconds. Most of the young men managed to catch up on time, but unfortunately, the communist authorities did not limit the number of their compulsory cycles. Svetlana Alexievich describes (Chernobyl Prayer, 2016, Pinguin, here) how a red flag had to fly over a destroyed reactor, and when the flag weathered off, a soldier had to run to the roof with a fresh flag – to die soon afterward, one soldier every month. According to Alexievich, those who lost their skin, and screamed in pain and thirst, often did not receive pain relief in the hospital, and sometimes not even water to quench their thirst.

Of the 800,000 young men – liquidators – sent to clean the most polluted areas, more than 20% died by 2011. A sober estimate of the number of deaths due to the accident by 2011 is between 280,000 and 360,000 citizens of the Soviet Union or post-Soviet republics (here). This is also confirmed by information rarely obtained from Soviet officials who witnessed all this (here). The number of victims was not officially published by the Soviet Union or by any successor state. As always, representatives of the UN and the left-wing media help the Communists and post-Communists to create fog about the Chernobyl situation. The magic number 31 for the alleged number of victims in the Chernobyl accident is usually accompanied by mentions of the Three Miles Island incident and the Fukushima tsunami. 

The most liberal and honest communist in history, Mikhail Gorbachev, denied allegations that the Soviet leadership had deliberately concealed the truth about Chernobyl, and he wrote in his memoirs: "We simply did not know the whole truth yet." So that, while the subjects were dying, the rulers simply knew nothing. The logical conclusion is that the Communists are either the most deceitful creatures among politicians – or the most stupid ones? The truth is somewhere in the middle. Similar qualities can be attributed to all those lovers of socialism, who are still looking for something positive in the rotten Soviet Union or in other exotic regimes and systems that call themselves by the magic words "socialist" or "people’s". Even the spread of coronavirus around the world is not just an accident resulting solely from the chaos existing in the socialists’ brains; many indications show that dubious intentions are associated with this accident as well ( here and here and here).

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the wife of one of the Tajik citizens fraudulently used for dangerous cleaning work in Chernobyl recalls how her husband Nozir Ganiyev, who was a simple cook, was taken away on the night of 7 April 1989 and returned crippled on October 2 (here). Soon after his return, Nozir was afflicted by unbearable pains, barely being able to stand on his feet, and he suffered for seven years before he died of leukemia. Their daughter suffers from chronic blood disease. Many of Nozir's friends have died and many are still suffering. Nozir is one of millions of people whose life or health was destroyed by the Chernobyl disaster. For generations, people will suffer as a result of this crime. Let us at least hope that the number of people afflicted by pathological admiration for totalitarian states of any kind will decrease.