During the night of April 26, 1986
in 4th block of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
a long-scheduled safety test is under way.
As a result of human error and design flaws
the RBMK-1000 nuclear reactor explodes.
Explosion releases radioactive contamination on an unprecedented scale.
Radioactivity in the nearby city of Pripyat
rises with each passing hour.
However, the evacuation takes place no earlier than
one and a half days after the explosion.
About 50000 people are evacuated from the city of Pripyat.
As well as the nearby village of Yanov,
and from a military town called Chernobyl-2.
The situation deteriorates to such an extent
that the mandatory evacuation is ordered.
All people are evacuated from the area of ten kilometers
and then 30 kilometers around the power plant.
In the following months it becomes clear that
the radioactive contamination has reached much further.
As a result, the Exclusion Zone keeps gradually expanding.
Meanwhile, the first people begin returning to their villages.
Initially, they face up to a strong response from the authorities.
However, the scale of this phenomenon becomes so great
that in the following years, authorities cease the evictions.
Those people are named Samosely (self-settlers).
35 years after the disaster, only a small group of them is still alive.
Their number drops with each passing year.
They live in abandoned villages.
They are excluded and forgotten by the world.
A small group of Poles from Napromieniowani.pl
made it their mission to go there regularly and help
the last people of Chernobyl.
Good morning.
I told you that we'd meet again.
We were wondering where you have been.
You didn't know where to find me?
Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much.
I don't know if I'll ever come back home.
I can't walk, my legs hurt.
I'm on my own.
Thank you, my dear, that you've come.
I'm so happy to see you...
and that you've come.
Visits are forbidden.
We have no choice.
Good morning.
I know that it's forbidden.
We're from Poland.
You've come to see Czala?
-How do you know? -You can't see her.
We've brought some goods for her.
I'll let her know that you have come, but you can't see her.
You may greet her through the window.
I told them that we have a quarantine.
Especially now, that she has been tested positive.
May they greet her through the window?
Okay... here's some bread, paper, washing powder, milk, cakes.
We didn’t expect that.
Do you recognize us? Good morning.
They don't let us go anywhere.
We can't go anywhere, not even for a walk.
We are not allowed to enter the building either.
Nothing can be done.
I'm glad to see you.
So are we. How are you?
How's your health?!
Your health?
What's the situation like?
I can't hear you.
Her ability to hear got worse.
It's always been bad, but she never had any troubles with understanding me before.
It upsets her.
Nobody visits her. Others have families but she has nobody in fact.
She said that she was not doing fine.
It's because she is locked up in her room.
She is used to walking down the hall,
to watching TV, going to the canteen.
All babushkas are locked up in their rooms, right?
She also caught the virus. Though, we don't know if it's real.
Thank you, goodbye.
Let's go.
She's not fine because she can't go anywhere.
She told us that her morale was getting lower and lower.
No visits, no walking, no TV... They sit in the room all day.
Why should we help them?
Because they live in an abandoned world.
There are places that had 500 inhabitants.
Now there can be easily only 11 as I assume.
Those are elderly people and it's hard for them...
to help each other.
They do their best but if you're 80 or so, things are not that simple.
Additionally, no running water,
frequent power cuts,
the door-to door shop comes once every two-three weeks.
If there's a lot of snow, it doesn't come at all.
It all piles up and there is even more...
Nobody visits them, they have no families. They miss talking to another human beings.
They are stuck up into their huts.
Sure, we bring them a lot of essential products.
Like bread, warm clothes or even a pair of warm slippers to wear in bed.
But what they need the most is any kind of mental support.
For them it's the possibility to talk to someone else, to look at them.
Babushkas often admit that it is just nice to be able to see another person.
What's the plan for tomorrow?
Kupovate.
We're going to Kupovate, in the southern part of the Zone.
We're going to visit babushka Hania.
Who lost her sister, Sonya, a couple of weeks ago.
I'd like us to be at the Dytiatky Checkpoint by 10 o'clock.
To make it happen, we need to wake up around 8 o'clock.
There is a lot to do. We need to load the car and have some decent sleep.
We haven't slept for two days.
We don't want to waste too much daytime either.
After all, we have to respect the curfew imposed by the local authorities.
Here are our passports.
Two jerrycans.
We need to register two jerrycans.
Will you open the trunk?
Those are goods and clothes for the elderly.
Last year, the officers luckily recognized you and they simply let us through.
[No trespassing. The object is under surveillance.]
[Pripyat]
"Early in the morning, as the nightingale was singing in the orchard."
"I quietly entered the house, where my father-in-law was reading a letter."
"Come over here, my dear. Let's see what your beloved one has written.”
"He writes that he loves someone else." "You must forget me!"
"I couldn't say anything, apart from this:"
"I have forgotten him, but it's his baby."
"Oh baby, baby, it's time to go to sleep."
"I'll sit at the table and write a letter to your daddy."
"I kept on writing until it was time to end the letter."
"I wrote only one thing: You'll come and bury me!”
"Two weeks had passed since the father-in-law buried his daughter-in-law."
"The lover is reading the letter. He says that it was the truth."
"His Cossack heart is burning. His young blood is boiling."
"He's thinking of his wife, his baby and the old love."
I've messed it all up...
That's no problem.
Come in, come in.
I think they need bread the most.
We'll come shortly!
-Come in, come in. -Maybe we should bring some firewood?
No, I've done that already by myself.
-Those are 100-Watt light bulbs. -You have an old one, right?
This one is new. It's economical.
To your health! And thank you!
To your health, my boys. No need to thank me. My life is long already.
May we pour some on the floor? In the memory of your sister.
-For her eternal peace? -We'll pour some.
Come on. Eat, my boys!
To your health!
May this be a medicine, not self-indulgence.
May you be healthy and live 90-100 years.
Just like babushka Czala.
We wanted to ask you about the day after tomorrow.
Could we hold a gathering of all samosely here at your place?
-Here? -Yes. Is there enough space for everyone?
Yes there is. There are only 12 people here. And I buried my Sonya...
Maria Ilchenko came here to spend a night with me, to support me.
I can recall when her husband, Ivan, died.
I'm grateful for her help. After all, she has it hard too.
Come closer, my boy, so that I can hear you.
Do you remember the disaster, when the Chernobyl power plant exploded?
In 1800... oh...
In 1986.
It happened in April, 26th.
I was at home.
In the morning...
I was supposed to go to work.
Here's the road, here's my booth and here the 4th reactor.
There was a crane too.
They haven't evacuated me.
I was working on the crane at that time, it was my assignment.
I went to Kiev by hydrofoil named "Meteor". They gave us a check-up.
And immediately took us back to Chernobyl.
Did you return right after the disaster?
Yes, right after the reactor explosion.
It was in May, 1st.
It was night, at 1:30 AM.
An ambulance came to my house.
First, the phone rang, but I was too late to answer it.
Those old phones were like this.
I called and my mom picked it up.
She said: "There's something going on, some malfunction," stuff like that.
It was exactly in April, 27th.
-Immediately? -Yes.
They already knew on 26th April, but I called the day after.
She said, that there was an accident.
"At the nuclear power plant, in Pripyat, some malfunction."
"Here everything is alright."
"We still plant potatoes here."
We didn't know any better, and we planted potatoes.
And we worked in the field.
At the kolkhoz they planted potatoes too.
On Saturday, they brought the schoolchildren from Ladizyche.
They were from Ladizyche.
The doorbell rang.
I opened the door.
”Valentina Ivanovna, get ready. You have five minutes."
"There was an accident at the nuclear power plant”.
We have put up a sign.
A warning against extreme situations.
It was my duty to do so.
[unintelligible]
Drink your tea before it's cold.
At night, people with all those bags...
Bags, suitcases, everyone was going to the train station,
which was already overcrowded.
They took their kids with them. Terrible sight.
I tried to call one more time, but I couldn't. They shut off the phones.
They brought in firefighters from the reactor.
The police encircled Pripyat.
So that nobody could enter or leave.
I was driving from Slavutych up to the power plant.
They were shouting to me and I asked: "What's going on?"
"Let's go and see."
I was the deputy head.
They called me at night, it was just after the explosion.
They rounded us up, and ordered a batch of iodine solution.
-Was it here? -At the pharmacy in Poliske, yes.
We made lots of it, in jerrycans.
Plenty of it.
Iodine solution, it's for thyroid.
Then we brought it to Pripyat.
Right away, the first night after the disaster.
I handed out iodine.
Our doctors took iodine.
On Monday, there came a bus.
To bring the children to school.
They took the kids
and some time later they brought them back.
I saw them walking home, and I asked:
"Vala, why are you home?"
"Mom, they are saying that the nuclear reactor exploded."
It means that we found out about the explosion on Monday.
They were throwing us out of our houses.
It exploded on 26 April.
We had to leave on 4 May.
We were not aware of anything at that point.
Until the buses showed up in front of our houses.
And they started loading us onto them.
We came here on 29 May...
No! Actually it was 29 April.
And on 4 May they were already taking us away.
There were cars, spraying on the streets.
They sprayed on the buildings, on the streets.
Two-three times per day.
They were announcing through the megaphone:
"To all inhabitants of Pripyat."
"Due to the malfunction at the nuclear power plant,"
"it is necessary to leave your houses for three days."
"Remember to close the mains, supply of the electricity, gas and water."
"Take all important documents."
It's been ringing in my ears ever since.
They announced that it was only for three days.
We were told that it was for four days.
And that we shouldn't take anything more than clean sheets,
because we might have to spend the night in the open air.
They brought us at night. I went to Kyiv.
And I slept in the car.
The cattle was standing and bellowing in distress. It was Horrible.
We were forced to leave on 4 May.
For three days.
Only for three days, but it turned out that it was forever.
It's been 33 years, or even more.
Could you tell us, what the evacuation was like?
We already knew, that we'd have to go.
We went and told everyone that we'd need to leave.
Even though we were not in the 30-km exclusion zone.
When they came for us,
I was working on the crane.
Our port and the Kyiv port were the same company.
One port was in Kyiv and the other one in Chernobyl.
They gave us an apartment in Kyiv.
Those, who used to live in the houses,
were supposed to receive two-room apartments.
They gave us only one-room apartment.
And the next year... No, two years later, they gave us a different flat.
They announced through a megaphone,
that the buses would park by each stairwell door.
And that we'd be driven to the nearby villages.
To the districts like Ivankiv, Poliske and Chernobyl.
The buses brought people with children.
Whole families, everybody had to be placed somewhere.
It was happening at night... They were allocated...
Anyone who could, took some people in. Two families were living with us.
Why do I need all these other places when I have my own home?
This hut. Our house.
My husband's house.
They took you away after the disaster?
Yes, those red city buses arrived.
They brought us to Lukyanivka, in Baryshevskyi District.
They allocated us with different families.
They treated us like objects.
This family - two people, that family - three people,
and your neighbour - five.
They came and asked: "Where would you like to go?"
And I said: "My good people - nowhere!"
"How's that?! If you stay here, you'll die!"
"Corpses will lie on the ground, nobody will come and pick them up!"
"How will it be where you want to take me?"
"Well, God only knows."
"I'm going nowhere!"
"I'll die at home!"
They built... for 500-600 people - the population of the entire Kupovate village.
They built 100 huts. They stuffed those people in them.
117 women and men - old and lonely.
They stuffed them all together. What else could they do?
There was no gas supply.
There was only steam heating.
You light up the stove,
water starts boiling and you don't know what to do.
We had coal boilers, they brought coal from Fastov.
It was hard to survive.
The winter of 1986/87 was very harsh.
Lots of snow and sub-zero temperatures.
People suffered.
All they thought about were their own stoves, in their houses.
So what did we do?
We didn't wait for them to give us permission - we fled home.
How long after the disaster did you come back home?
After one year.
We spent one winter away from home.
One year.
There was a barbed wire.
Barbed wire.
And some poles.
There you have Opachychi Forestry.
They placed them up to the forestry, but Kupovate village was not in the Zone.
I came home in October 24, 1987.
They asked: "Where are you going?"
They wouldn't allow us, so we went illegally!
We made a garden right there, we planted potatoes.
It was time to come back home.
One hundred and fifty families came back. They didn't allow any more.
They threw us out several times.
Every time they threw us out, we would come back again.
Like partisans.
-How many times did they throw you out? -I lost the count.
There were lots of people.
Once came a bus, to take everyone away.
We told them that they'd have to kill us first. Otherwise, we wouldn't go.
And then we...
came home.
This is why we live here.
We are 36 km away from the power plant.
So we are outside the zone.
One hundred twenty-seven people came back.
84 in Opachychi, 27 in Otashev and 14 in Gorodishch.
A lot of people came back.
When we came here, everything was overgrown.
There was nobody to take care of it for a year.
So we took axes, cut it all out and ploughed the field.
There were no fertilizers. And here they don't sow rye.
They don't sow anything. Not even oats.
We have potatoes, beets.
Corn.
There's not much corn, because pigs eat it all.
Somehow, we managed to settle here, and here we are.
There was a lot of us.
How many people are there in Teremtsi?
Hard to say - few.
-Perhaps ten? -I guess so.
And after the disaster, 100 people returned to live here.
After the accident, there was 100 of us in Teremtsi.
In September 1987, the chairman of the regional state administration came here.
Revenko Grigory Ivanovich.
He said that the evacuation of Kupovate village was against the law.
Therefore, the retired and the elderly could come back home.
Preschoolers and schoolchildren had to stay.
That's how it was.
But we made a small mistake.
If we had written permission, a document in hand,
we would have been heroes. Instead, we are Samosely.
Was the evacuation necessary?
No, that was insanity.
The people would have survived. Instead, they had to leave and die far from home.
Take Berzan village for example.
You can count people living there on the fingers of one hand.
No! We shouldn't have been evacuated. We shouldn't have.
Here I have some berries, mushrooms, a small garden.
We can plant some tomatoes, some cucumbers.
And any sort of flowers you can imagine.
And I like flowers very much. My daughter brings me some.
She helps me plant them, when she visits during summer.
One sort starts to bloom, then another one.
It's our home and we do our best to make it beautiful.
To make our lives better.
Yes...
That's why I have so many roses.
You worked in a hospital, in Pripyat?
Yes, and that's what I got the medal for.
What was your job at the hospital?
I was a liquidator. Wait, I'll show you.
I was a part of an ambulance crew.
You said that you had built Pripyat.
Do you mean that you were directly involved in it?
Oh yes!
There were trucks with gravel, and they would bring sand from there,
and then, by the river transport,
to Crimea, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk and Cherkasy.
The passage was narrow because of the cranes. We needed 9000 trucks with sand.
We'd load one truck, then it'd go, and then we'd load another one.
Don't be afraid boys! There's no radiation here.
We know that. We're not afraid.
What I did?
We handed out medication to all the workers.
We made sure they all got their anti-radiation drugs.
Did you see the firemen when they were brought in from the nuclear power plant?
Sure! We took care of everyone,
who ended up in our ward.
You can still go and see their clothes in the basement.
Why are the firefighters' belongings stored in the basement?
It was an extreme situation,
they were contaminated, and up there we had living people.
Those coming in and those who were already contaminated.
It's simple, we had to get rid of the radiation source.
We'd put them there...
How to say that?
So that they wouldn't lie next to us.
We thought that the authorities...
would send someone to clean it up.
I come in, neatly dressed, with a straw hat on.
My supervisor asked: "Is the radiation high?"
And I responded: "What is radiation?"
And to think that we built Pripyat surrounded by all that radiation.
Back then nobody told us anything.
We had many Geiger counters. Quite many.
And they all went crazy.
I still can hear that sound.
Aren't you afraid of radiation?
We didn't know what it was. And we should have.
It was flying through the tall buildings.
In Kyiv it latched onto those tall buildings' walls.
The radiation, it sticked to everything.
My sister's son lives in Kyiv. My sister is dead now.
And he says: "Aunt Alla."
"The radiation in our fridge..."
"is higher than where you live in Poliske."
Our aunt lived behind our hut.
They buried her house.
They dug a trench, pushed it in, filled the hole with soil. That's it.
After my shift at the hospital, they let me go home to catch some sleep.
My body temperature was 37.2 degrees Celsius.
I closed my eyes,
and I saw crocodiles and other monsters.
I opened my eyes - everything was back to normal.
Radiation-induced visual hallucinations.
Now I know that, but then I thought I was losing my mind.
We came there as the waste from the household stoves was being unloaded.
There was a lot of ash.
To access the canteen on a 3-storey ship, you had to get through a radiation check.
There was a man checking the radiation levels.
"Oh, you are contaminated! What are we supposed to do now?"
He scrubbed me clean with a broom: "Come in, the radiation is gone now!"
All those people who worked near the nuclear reactor.
We called them The Atomists.
They had...
those white shoes,
white vests,
and white pants.
Ambulances would bring them to us.
There were a lot of them.
Everybody needed help.
And everyone wanted to be treated first.
They knew...
that radiation is bad.
That it is incurable.
They were like: "Help me, help me.”
We'd give them gastric lavage,
as they were nauseated. They vomited and had vertigo.
When your stomach is clean, your whole body gets cleaner too.
All our patients...
that we had treated at the time, were discharged.
In their place, they started admitting The Atomists.
Were there many of them?
Oh, Vita. Who would count?
We were doing our best to save them, to help them.
To send them to the right place.
Some had to go to Moscow, some to Kyiv,
And some...
It's hard to say... some had to go to the morgue.
We didn't think about ourselves, about our own safety.
There was no time for it.
We tried to save those people.
We all thought that...
I thought that I was made of steel. My body was so strong.
I never thought that I'd get contaminated, and that I'd need three surgeries.
But, I never expected to turn 74 either.
I thought my days were numbered.
I'm telling you all those things... Let's hope that the KGB won't visit me tonight.
Good morning!
-How are you? -I don't want to live anymore...
Every time we come, you seem younger.
I think that it's the end of this world, and that I'm already on the other side.
The next stage of life, right?
That's how it seems.
And only God knows how it will end.
Do you remember any poem or a song?
Oh, she does, she does. Yesterday she told stories all the time.
As you wish.
There are no people here, and I enjoy talking.
I reminisce on all things that had happened to me.
I can tell you a thing or two.
-Please tell us something. -A song or a poem?
Whatever. It's up to you.
-I'll first tell you a poem. -There you go.
"About a fly and a bee."
"In spring, there came a lazy fly and she flew to the garden."
"To look at the flowers, to listen to the cuckoo's singing."
"She's sitting and observing what's going on in the garden."
"The wind moves gently, like a young dame."
"She saw a bee and she said hello."
"Have some rest, my dear. Sit here with me."
"I can't sit down. - Said the bee."
"It's time to fly to the beehives. It's far away from here."
"Oh, what a shame!- said the fly. "It must be hard to be you!"
"Early to bed and early to rise. I'd die if my life were like this."
"After one week, I'd be no more. My life, oh my dear bee."
"Is a never ending dinner or a party."
"Weddings or childbirths, I'd never let any occasion pass."
"Never ever."
"To eat and dine until my belly is full."
"It's a way better than working in the field, just like you do."
"Fair enough! - Said the bee."
"But I heard that everybody despises you."
"You are always unwanted and they always make you go away."
"That's nothing new. Who told you that? - Said the fly."
"It's just some silly gossip. I don't care if I have to fly away!"
"If the doors are closed, I'll fly through the window."
"Or some other hole, and I can eat again!"
That's the poem.
Kitty, kitty!
There are two.
I have five of them.
Outside.
-The cats are outside? -Maybe, I don't know.
I mix things up.
I don't remember the right order.
All my poems and songs are jumbled up.
When I was alone here,
after I returned home,
and I finished my work in the garden,
I'd come home, sit on the couch,
put my hands behind my head and I'd sing all the songs I knew,
the whole evening long. And then I'd go to bed.
I feel like crying.
Death is near.
Just like in that one song, just four steps away.
They say that it's a package deal: Pain, anger, loneliness.
That's what being old is like.
Pain, anger, loneliness.
To be able to come here, you need to be on the list.
Each of us can be visited by up to ten people.
Are the families allowed to enter the Zone, for example, when someone dies?
Well, if somebody dies, then maybe yes. I have no idea.
Otherwise, it's impossible.
Only when you're on the list.
-You used to live here with your mother? -Yes, with my mother.
She didn't want to leave, but I wanted to.
She cried. I felt sorry for her.
And now what? My mother is no more and I'm crying here all alone:
"Why did you leave me and let me suffer like this?"
The most important thing is to have children.
I had a boy. He was two years old when he died.
Appendicitis.
There were no cars back then.
-What kind of boy was he? -He was my boy, I gave birth to him.
Oh, he was your baby.
He was barely two, barely two years old.
His appendicitis burst open.
He was only two but he was already able to lift a chicken or bring some firewood.
I came back and he was already...
They brought him away on a horse.
There was only one car. But it was out in the field. It was a harvest season.
That's why I asked for him to be brought away on a horse.
When they finally arrived at the hospital, it was too late.
Please tell us again, to the camera, about Olga's death.
I'm sorry for asking that...
It's alright.
Babushka Olga was a good person.
She didn't have enemies.
She'd always give you something. Even if it was just an apple.
An unfortunate soul. She was such a good person.
Zhenya called her once. She didn't pick up.
Some time later she tried again. Again, no answer.
Then she tried in the evening. Still, no answer.
First she thought that Olga was busy doing something the whole day.
Then she called Bezverkha: "Go and check on Olga."
I went there because she didn't answer the phone.
I was thinking: "What is wrong?"
When I came in, the lights were on.
I didn't see Olga walking anywhere.
They opened the door and looked inside.
What could we do? She was a large person.
The whole house was covered with blood.
One of the varicose veins on her leg burst open.
If she hadn't been alone...
she'd have survived.
But she lived alone, and used a walker.
You could see that she touched the leg and then she touched the walker.
They found traces of blood on it.
Maybe she wanted to call for help but she couldn't do much.
The walker was in one room.
She was in another room, next to the stove.
We didn't keep an eye on her this one time.
I used to bring her beetroot soup.
We visited her in October, before she died.
Before she died?
Yes, she asked us to go to the roof.
To clean the chimney.
The guys went up there and did it.
She told people that she received a lot of things.
She was so happy with the tablecloth and with the clock.
You see, Jesus Christ lived only 33 years.
And I have already survived 34 years after the disaster.
We visited her hut. We hung a plaque on it.
Perhaps you want to go and see it?
A small plaque with the date of her birth and the date of death.
-Today? -Yes, there is also a photo.
And a short text describing who she was and how she lived.
You can go and read it.
It's a nice plaque.
-Outside? -Yes, on the door.
All who live here will need to have one soon.
Thank you very much. We won't disturb you anymore.
I'll tell you one more thing...
We don't have much time.
We'd stay and listen, but then they will not let us through the checkpoint.
We have to slowly get going. We're sorry.
-How much time do we have? -Only five minutes. We have to pack up.
At the checkpoint, there is a radiation check. We have to return our dosimeters.
We'll come again on Tuesday. We'll see each other then.
-What if I die by that time? -Oh, you won't.
I thank God, that we're not alone today.
That you are here with us, and that you think of us.
You could've kept it all for yourselves, but you come here and give it to us.
You could have help your own people, but you help us instead.
I'm very grateful that you...
did not forget us.
May God remember you too and give you strength.
Thank you very, very much!
Thank you for bringing, all those things for us.
There are so many old people here and there's no store.
The mobile store comes once every five weeks.
You have to place an order. If you don't - you go home with empty hands.
The prices went up, while my pension is 2000 UAH (75 $).
Just enough for cat food.
You come here and bring everything.
My God, thank you Krystian. I thank you all.
They brought me such a big bag! Oh my God!
You'll go and I'll cry here, all alone.
Thank you for visiting us.
Olga was grateful for the walker.
She put the new one away and kept using the old one.
We always wait for you like for Christmas. It's a big holiday to us.
Does he look like the owner?
One must drink! Someone gives, you have to accept!
So, Krystian? Bottoms up?
So that you don't forget, that you've been to Chernobyl.
-Should we give you a lift? -No need.
By yourself?
Let's drink!
-One last, for the road! -For the road!
Good day, may we? Good evening!
Good evening!
The photo is for you, a keepsake.
It's been some time since we came here.
What a big dog.
Yes, it's a hunting dog.
See you next time.
May God be with you!
Help me with the other leg!
Damn it...
Your walking stick.
-You have nice walking sticks! -It's from my son-in-law.
I was hitting Sonya's dog, while the men were chopping the wood.
They made this one for me. "No need to cry for your broken stick!" they said.
I will go to them...
Babushka Hania has a nice one too.
It's an old headscarf, but I wear it. Doesn't matter if it's cold or warm.
We are talking about the walking stick.
I'll take one more photo, with Krystian.
-With those sticks of ours? -It'll look nice, don't worry.
Put it aside. I don't want it in the photo.
You can give this one to somebody else.
I'll give it to Marusia.
-Stay healthy! Best wishes! -See you next time!
Zavorotnya Hanna Alexeevna.
Czala Maria Ulyanovna.
Me?
Bezverkha Sofia Arkadevna.
Rindyuk, Leonid Petrovich.
Until I was 20, my name was Sapura Maria Vasylevna,
and then I got married. Now my name is Ilchenko Maria.
My name is Sushchenko.
Viktor Petrovich Lukyanenko.
Beznoshenko Evdokya Semenovna.
Valentina Ivanovna Sochenok.
Rajonok Ivan Kuzmich.
My husband was from Teremtsi. We got married.
I was 20 back then.
Khrushch Galina Konstatinovna.
Boloshenko Ivan Ivanovich.
Zagorna Maria Prokopovna.
I'm already 80 years old.
I was born in 1932.
March 30, 1929.
I was born in 1945.
You can count my age. I was born in 1945.
I was born in 1947.
February 2, 1934.
And I'll say that I'm 15.
1941. May 5, 1941.
1945.
According to my documents, in 1941.
I was born in November 26, 1940.
I was born in 1926.
I've lived in Kupovate for 79 years.
In live Kupovate, I'm a Samosel.
Samosel. In my own hut, in my homeland.
I live in Kupovate, but I was born in Otashev.
I live in Poliske.
Me, a Samosel? No idea. I guess I am a Samosel.
I've lived here for 33 years.
A Samosel? Why?
I'm from here, this is my hut.
No way! This is my land.
Nobody else's but mine.
Yes, they had to write something down in the documents.
We were born here, but they call us self-settlers.
No idea why. If we were strangers, I'd understand. But we're all from here.
Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers are buried in that cemetery.
"Samosely" - I don't like this word.
I don't want us to be called like that.
We're the indigenous people. We simply came back to our homes.
We are not Samosely. Nobody placed us here. We came here of our own accord.
I was born in Kupovate.
In Chernobyl district, in Kyiv province.
I've lived in Kupovate for 79 years.
I live in Chernobyl, Where else would I live? My God...
You know, one time, there came a colonel...
Why don't you sit next to me?
I want the photo without him, only with you.
He wants a photo with you. He doesn't like me.
Why you don't like him? Oh, you...
Just kidding, just kidding.
Maniunia, come here. I want Maniunia.
[Maniunia - Tiny one]
Oh my, Maniunka, Maniunka.
Thank you.
And you don't want it?!
If you don't, I'll take that beard away from you...
[English subtitles: Przemyslaw Kosewski, Bartosz Wabno.]