The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus presents a traveling exhibition “Chernobyl. Chronicle of the Tragedy”

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus holds an exhibition “Chernobyl. Chronicle of the Tragedy” dedicated to the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. In the Year of Historical Memory this exhibition is a tribute to the memory of those who had experienced the tragedy, a message and instruction for the whole world.

On 26 April 1986, the largest man-made disaster in the century occurred at the fourth block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located a few kilometers from the territory of Belarus. Already in the first months of the disaster a colossal amount of work was carried out, huge financial resources were allocated to overcome it and scientific and human resources were attracted to eliminate it both in the Soviet Union and from abroad. Thousands of scientists-physicists and nuclear scientists, engineers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, doctors, workers and representatives of many other specialties worked in the Chernobyl zone.

The main severity of the accident consequences for Belarus turned out to be much higher than for neighboring Ukraine and Russia and it was given the status of a “national disaster”.

The Chernobyl accident caused enormous damage in Belarus. About 20 percent of land areas, the most fertile ones, and almost a quarter of our country’s forest fund were subjected to contamination. The use of mineral and other natural resources of the country was considerably reduced. About 340 industrial enterprises were located in the contaminated zone, which found themselves in difficult economic conditions compared to other Belarusian regions. Due to mass resettlement of residents from the most affected areas, activities of a number of industrial enterprises and social infrastructure facilities were terminated.

For hundreds of thousands of people Chernobyl was a physical, moral and psychological disaster. More than 163,000 people were resettled from the Chernobyl zone. The threat of radiation was so high that already on April 27, 1986, the city of Pripyat was evacuated. The population of Pripyat was informed of the evacuation by radio at 12 noon on April 27, and two hours later the evacuation began. Two and a half hours after the start of the evacuation, Pripyat was abandoned by the civilian population. In total, about 50,000 people were evacuated from Pripyat and Yanov. In the first days after the accident, the population of the 10-km zone was evacuated. In the following days, in connection with new data on the radiation situation, the population of other settlements in the 30-km zone was evacuated. People to be evacuated were forbidden to take things with them. Many were evacuated in home clothes.

The accident showed that without a state program of liquidation of its consequences, adoption of the corresponding legislation, it is impossible to solve the whole complex of problems.

On March 22, 1989, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus and the Council of Ministers of the BSSR adopted a resolution on the development of the State Program for overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, which was created in July 1989 and approved by the 11th session of the Supreme Council of the BSSR. At the same session the Republic was declared a zone of national ecological disaster.

In 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus adopted the Law “On the social protection of citizens affected by the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe” and the Law “On the legal regime of territories affected by radioactive contamination as a result of the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe”, and in 1998 the National Assembly adopted the Law “On the radiation safety of the population”.
The development and implementation of the state policy in the field of overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe is carried out under the direction and with direct participation of the President of the Republic of Belarus A. G. Lukashenko. Belarus has a system of control over the implementation of the Chernobyl legislation and the State programs of minimization of the Chernobyl catastrophe consequences. It includes periodic working visits of the President of the Republic of Belarus, Prime Minister, members of the Government to the contaminated regions of the country and on-site consideration of the problems of social protection of the affected population; development of specific measures for implementation of the President’s instructions with indication of deadlines, officials responsible for implementation, forms of control, etc.

In 2000, Belarus approved the State Program for overcoming the consequences of the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe for 2001-2005 and for the period until 2010. This indicates that the solution of the Chernobyl problems for Belarus will remain at the national level for a long time to come.

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus keeps the largest complex of documentary materials, which comprehensively and deeply characterize the Chernobyl catastrophe. The main collections containing information about the Chernobyl accident are: the fonds of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus (F. 4p), the Council of Ministers (F. 7), the Supreme Soviet (F. 968), the State Chernobyl Committee (F. 570), the Ministry of Health (F. 46), the Belgosgidrometeocenter (F. 1088) and Headquarters of the BSSR Civil Defense (F. 901). Among the most important documents are decrees, memoranda, information, minutes of the meetings of various commissions that examined the Chernobyl issues, decisions of the Government Commission for the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident, decisions on the resettlement, health and medical care of the population, information from the BSSR Foreign Ministry on the participation of the international community in the liquidation of the accident consequences.