The Forgotten Heroes of Chernobyl: English Version

Von Udo Fehring

Chernobyl - It is the synonym for the first Worst Case Scenario in the history of nuclear power plants. And it turned out: As with any premiere, no one had any experience in dealing with such a catastrophe.
This book tells the story of two fictional liqidators, those who had to do the cleanup work on the failed reactor: Wadim and Oleg. They had to do their work under adventurous health precautions. After their deployment, they were honored as heroes of the Soviet Union.
But how does the state behave when Oleg falls seriously ill after the mission?

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: neobooks
• Erscheinungsdatum: 3. Dez. 2019
• ISBN: 9783750214750

Buchvorschau

Prolog

The Forgotten Heroes of

Chernobyl

Udo Fehring

For my beloved Heidi

Bild 1

Imprint

Texts: © Copyright by Udo Fehring

Cover: © Copyright by Udo Fehring

Contact to author: [e-mail]

Print: epubli, a service of

neopubli GmbH, Berlin

Printed in Germany

Chernobyl - this word stands for the first nuclear Super-Accident in the world.

Fukushima followed at some point, but Chernobyl is synonymous with the fact that nuclear power is no longer safe per se and that never danger can arise from it.

Whenever Chernobyl is mentioned, there is talk of a catastrophe.

Ukraine and the world were confronted by Chernobyl with something they did not know before, free radioactivity in very high concentration.

This was also reflected in the way the actions were taken, e.g. to extinguish the fire or e.g. to stem the radioactivity emanating from the disaster site.

People worked partially unprotected, exposed to thousands of times increased radiation levels. They became the cannon fodder for the rescue of the people in the surrounding areas as well as in the larger area.

These people, also known as liquidators (author's note: liquidators were people who were supposed to liquidate the ionizing radiation or decontaminate the surrounding area) gave their lives to protect others or to prevent much bigger catastrophes with their work.

And this book is dedicated to these people.

They were real heroes who had reduced the resulting catastrophe in various actions on havarized reactor.

And one should never forget these heroes.

Yes, they got awards like certificates or medals, but these are just material signs.

It is important to keep reminding them whether they have died or continue to live.

Their acts should definitely live on in the memories of Ukrainians, Byelorussians and Russians.

------

The present story is about fictional characters, but the cornerstones of the story correspond to the reality of the time in and around Chernobyl.

Chapter 1

Saturday, April, 26, 1986

Kiev, Ukraine.

It was a beautiful spring day in Kiev, Ukraine. The sun was shining down from the sky and one got the impression that the summer was not far away.

Wadim and Oleg lived with their families in a block of flats in the suburbs of the town with beautiful gardens behind the houses.

Both were happily married: Wadim with Anna. They had a four-year-old daughter named Marusha. Oleg was married to Darja. They had two sons: Alexander was three and Mikhail five.

Both families did a lot together. On this Saturday, the families were at a kindergarten party. The women sold delicious, home-cooked food: for lunch there was Borschtsch, which, when it came to Wadim's opinion, no one could cook as well as his wife Anna. Darja helped Anna with the sale, because nearly everybody knew, how good Anna's borsch was and accordingly was the queue.

The men had field service: Wadim had service on the barbeque and sold delicious sausages and meat balls and Oleg had set up a small parcours for Bobby cars, where the children had to show their skills.

Many parents had spread their picnic towels outside and shared their delicious food: salads, breads and cakes. The kids romped around in the grounds: swings and jungle gyms, which the fathers had maintained a week earlier.

It was just wonderful!

In the evening everybody fell into the bed quite exhausted, the fresh air and the exhausting day took their toll.

On Sunday both families went to church in the nearby Orthodox community as usual, especially as there was a children's service every Sunday that the children were always looking forward to.

Afterwards, the families decided to have a picnic in the greens of the Dnepr River, because they took a lot food back from the kindergarten the day before.

There, the children could play undisturbed and the adults were able to chat relaxed.

The weekend was then, as always, far too quickly over and it was again a working week ahead.

Wadim worked as a firefighter in a guard in northern Kiev. The work was satisfying: he enjoyed helping people with his work. But there have always been heavy moments in his working life when people could not be rescued from homes. And then he was not too bad to take advantage of psychological help for a short time to get rid of the negative thoughts and feelings. Because he knew that this was just as important in order to process his experiences and not bear with them forever.

Oleg worked as an engineer in a machine fabric, in a business park on the outskirts of Kiev. He had studied mechanical engineering. His company produces machines for forestry, which was an important source of income in the Ukraine.

Her wives, Anna and Darja, also worked part-time, because the kindergartens were well organized and welcomed the children already at the age of two.

Anna worked in a bakery in the neighborhood and also had a lot of joy in her work, especially in dealing with people who also appreciated her friendliness.

Darya worked in the Personnel Office of the city of Kiev and shared a job with another half-day worker.

In the evening, the families gathered for a dinner together. Everyone told about his or her experience of the day. In addition, always the radio turned on, actually more to listen to lively music than to receive news or information.

But this time there were disturbing news: foreign