ABSTRACT
Taking as its starting point the concept of post-Soviet nostalgia, this chapter considers the politics of memory in the commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia and, to a lesser extent, in Ukraine. Commemorative activity in connection with recent anniversaries of the disaster (in 2006, 2011, and 2016) has gradually recast Chernobyl from a symbol of everything that was wrong with late-Soviet society into a narrative of heroic triumph that, in key respects, recalls the great model texts of Soviet Socialist Realism. The article points out how in commemorative texts and films, as well as in official remembrance ceremonies, the Chernobyl “liquidators,” the citizens who participated in cleanup efforts, emerge as the last generation of great Soviet heroes and as models for contemporary generations to emulate.
