By Philip R. Devlin.
(Feb. 28, 2022) — Anyone who drives on Connecticut’s highways will readily note that sections of these highways are often named to honor heroic historical figures. Drive north to Middletown on Route 9 and as you enter the Harbor Park area, you will notice a sign saying, “Major General Maurice Rose Highway.” General Rose was the highest-ranking American officer killed during World War II. He was part of Patton’s 3rd Army. General Rose was born in Middletown. We should remember him.
A section of I-91 from the Meriden town line to Cromwell is named the “Sgt. George Ross Dingwall Memorial Highway” after the Higganum resident and Middletown policeman — and my close personal friend and neighbor — killed while pursuing a criminal in January 2000.
Certainly, most area residents have seen a sign in the New Britain area of Route 9 that reads “Taras Shevchenko Expressway.” Do you realize that this section of highway in Connecticut is the only one named for a person who never set foot in this state? Furthermore, it is the only highway in Connecticut that honors a Ukrainian.
Born on March 9, 1814, into serfdom in Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko was orphaned at age 12. Impressed by his immense artistic talent, his owner, a man named Engelhardt, sent him to St. Petersburg to develop that talent. Eventually, his considerable artistic and literary talent earned Shevchenko his emancipation from serfdom in 1838.
Shevchenko witnessed Russia’s exploitation and suppression of freedom in his homeland of Ukraine and campaigned publicly and openly in his writings for Ukrainian independence. Some of his poems openly satirized the family of Czar Nicholas I. The czar promptly sent Shevchenko to prison in 1848, where he suffered until his premature death one day after his 47th birthday on March 10, 1861.
Shevchenko’s most famous poem is “Katernya,” the story of a young Ukrainian girl who is seduced by a Russian soldier. Katernya gives birth to a baby fathered by that Russian soldier and is ostracized by her village. Eventually, she commits suicide.
So impactful was “Katernya” that lines from Shevchenko’s poem have been memorized by many generations of Ukrainian women to this day. Images of deceived and abandoned Ukrainian women who have suffered under Russian dominance became metaphors for the country of Ukraine itself being used and dominated by Russia.
These powerful words continue to motivate Ukrainians. If you wish to understand the powerful passion that is driving the resistance in Ukraine today against seemingly overwhelming odds, look to the literature of Taras Shevchenko, their national hero. Statues of him are everywhere in Ukraine; his gravesite there is the Ukrainian version of our Arlington Cemetery. His writings and paintings are the foundation of the Ukrainian independence movement and of all Ukrainian literature–sure proof that the written word can still galvanize a nation.
So, the next time you drive by the Shevchenko sign on Route 9 in Connecticut, salute or blow a kiss to the memory of a man whose incredible personal courage in the face of Russian oppression still drives the amazing resolution and determination of the Ukrainian people to this day to liberate themselves from Russian oppression. It was most appropriate for our state to honor the memory of this great man with a sign on Route 9.
