Galina Ackerman or usually Galia Ackerman () (born 1948) is a French-Russian writer, historian, journalist, translator, researcher at the

University of Caen The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

, specializing on

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

. She was also a translator for slain Russian journalist

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (; 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russians, Russian investigative journalist who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005). It was her repor ...

Biography

Galia Ackerman was born in 1948 into a Russian Jewish family. She holds a doctorate in history from the

University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and is an associate researcher at the

Crossing Chernobyl

In 1998, Galia Ackerman translated into French the 'Chernobyl Prayer' by

Svetlana Alexievich Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to s ...

, a documentary about the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

. While working on the translation, she traveled in the poisoned territories called '

Zone Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

' (short for Chernobyl Exclusion Zone), in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, and interviewed local well-known personalities about the nuclear catastrophe. When she published her gathered stories about 'Zone', the Center of Modern Art of Barcelona asked her in 2003 prepare an exhibition about 'Zone'. To prepare the materials for the Center of Modern Art, Galia Ackerman traveled from 2003 to 2006 in

. She co-worked with a museum about the catastrophe in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, met with local people, and gathered various artefacts like special clothes of recovery workers, various

Geiger counters A Geiger counter (, ; also known as a Geiger–Müller counter or G-M counter) is an electronic instrument for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation with the use of a Geiger–Müller tube. It is widely used in applications such as radiati ...

. As result, she talked with many local people, gathered much information, and wrote her first documentary in 2006 about 'Zone', but, as she said, it was just a pure history of the catastrophe. Since then, Galia Ackerman used to travel in Ukraine, visited 'Zone', met local people and became a friend with Ukrainian poet

Lina Kostenko Lina Vasylivna Kostenko (; born 19 March 1930) is a Ukrainian poet, journalist, writer, publisher, and former Soviet dissident. A founder and leading representative of the Sixtiers poetry movement, Kostenko has been described as one of Ukrai ...

, who also often visited Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. So she decided to write a new story entitled 'Crossing Chernobyl' to tell her 20-year-long experience about Chernobyl, thoughts, mental pictures of Chernobyl. The book was published in France.

Selected bibliography

Books

* (Crossing Chernobyl; Premier Parallèle, 2016) * (The Immortal Regiment; The Sacred War of Putin; Premier Parallèle, 2019)

References

External links

*YouTube video of Galia Ackerman interview for ''France 24 English'' on August 28, 2007, towards investigation in murder of Anna Politkovskaya
FRANCE24-EN; Top Story; Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackerman, Galia Russian emigrants to France 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians 21st-century Russian women journalists 21st-century Russian journalists Russian–French translators 21st-century French writers 20th-century French writers Russian writers in French 1948 births Living people Jewish Russian writers