"Chornobyl is everywhere" finnissage of the exhibition

On April 26, 1986, the reactor accident at Chornobyl* shook the world. The scale of the human and ecological catastrophe shaped public awareness in German society of the global risks of nuclear power. The slogan “Chernobyl is everywhere” became a symbol of the boundless danger posed by nuclear energy. On the 40th anniversary, the question of nuclear safety has gained a new and dramatic urgency due to Russian attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants and their military occupation.

The exhibition “Chornobyl is everywhere” draws a connection between the reactions of West German society to the reactor disaster at the time and the renewed relevance of nuclear danger in Ukraine today.

At the closing event on May 21, experts will discuss, based on selected exhibits from the exhibition, the consequences of Chornobyl for environmental movements in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as well as the memory of the catastrophe in present-day Ukraine.

What do the photographs, flyers, and pamphlets from the Green Memory Archive reveal about the need for information and political mobilization in the FRG after Chornobyl?

What significance did Chornobyl have for the opposition movement in the GDR?

What role does the poster art of the Kharkiv design collective “4th Block” play in the artistic engagement with the trauma of Chornobyl, and how do the artists address the renewed relevance of nuclear danger in wartime?

Among others, with:

• Stephan Milder, historian, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society / Bundeswehr University Munich)

• Christian Halbrock, historian, former environmental activist and co-founder of the Environmental Library in the GDR)

Moderation: Clara Fryszacka
 

The closing event will be held in German and English with simultaneous interpretation.

This event is part of the European History Forum 2026.­

*“Chornobyl” is the name of the Ukrainian town near which a large nuclear power plant, consisting of four reactors, was built starting in the 1970s. During the Soviet era, however, reports on nuclear power and this location were primarily written in Russian, leading to the Russian transcription of the place name, “Chernobyl,” becoming established in other languages as well.

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin