Forty years after the world’s largest nuclear accident, a team at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has launched an initiative to collect personal memories and stories from those days. The campaign is part of the project “Socio-Cultural Consequences of the Chernobyl Disaster in Bulgaria: Historical Context and Contemporary Dimensions,” funded by the National Science Fund and led by Chief Assist. Prof. Dr. Stamen Kanev. Dr. Yelis Erolova, member of the Balkan Ethnology Department is also part of the research team.
The project approaches disasters not merely as physical events causing material damage, but as social ruptures – studying how meaning is attached to them, how public perception is shaped, and how media, popular culture, museums and other institutions take part in constructing their memory.
The campaign invites people to document their experiences connected to the disaster – both dramatic accounts and quieter, everyday ones: how they learned the news, what measures their school, village or town took, and how daily life changed. “All stories are equally valuable and welcome,” Dr. Kanev notes, adding that the goal is to build a multifaceted record of memory among the generations of Bulgarians who lived through that period.
Anyone whose personal experience or family memories are connected to the Chernobyl disaster in Bulgaria can take part by submitting text, photos, video or audio materials through an online form in Bulgarian. Approved stories will be archived in a special collection or published on the project’s website with participants’ explicit consent.
Submissions can be made via the project’s form here: https://chernobylbg.com/index.php/info-spodeli-svoya-spomen/
Photo Credit: BNR Radio