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George Shevelov
George Yurii Shevelov (né Schneider, 17 December 1908 – 12 April 2002) was a Ukrainian-American professor, linguist, philologist, essayist, literary historian, and literary critic. A longtime professor of Slavic philology at Columbia University, he challenged the prevailing notion of a unified East Slavic language from which Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian later developed, instead proposing that these languages emerged independently from one another.
Yuri Schneider was born in Kharkov (now Kharkiv, Ukraine) in 1908. Some sources state his place of birth as Lomzha (now Łomża, Poland), although according to Shevelov, this is because his mother falsified records fearing persecution. His father, Vladimir Georgievich Shevelov (born Vladimir Karlovich Schneider) was a high ranking Russian Imperial Army officer who held the rank of major-general. His father and mother (Varvara Vladimirovna Meder, who originally was of noble birth from an established Moscow family) were both ethnic Germans. When Russia declared war on the German Empire in 1914, his father, a fervent Russian monarchist, decided to Russify the family name, choosing a random name with the same initial (Shevelov), and also changed the patronymic “Karlovich” to “Georgievich”. Such changes required a personal petition to the Tsar, and in his case it was personally granted by Nicholas II in 1916. During the World War I, Shevelov and his mother moved to Kharkov. At the beginning of 1918, Shevelov's father was missing in action and was presumed killed.
In Kharkiv, Shevelov initially attended the E. Druzhkova Private School, then the 3rd State Boy's Gymnasium, followed by Technical School #7 (Ukrainian: 7-а трудовa школa). Under the influence of his cousin Tolia Nosiv, who worked as an anthropologist at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and had been mentored by Fedir Vovk, Shevelov developed an interest in the Ukrainian language and history. During his youth he read the Illustrated history of Ukraine by Mykhailo Hrushevsky and translated a story by Edgar Allan Poe into Ukrainian. At the age of 17, before entering university, Shevelov travelled to Kyiv together with his cousin, meeting Hrushevsky and Serhiy Yefremov.
In 1925 Shevelov graduated from the First Kharkov Trade and Industry Union School (Ukrainian: Перша харківська торговельна промислова профспілкова школа). From 1925 till 1927 he worked as a statistician and archive keeper for South Chemical Trust. In 1927–1931 he attended classes at the literary-linguistic branch of the Kharkiv People's Education Institute. He is considered a member of the Kharkiv Linguistic School. From August 1931 he was employed as a Ukrainian language school teacher. From 1932 till 1938 he was employed as a Ukrainian language teacher at the Ukrainian Communist Newspaper Technical School (Ukrainian: Український комуністичний газетний технікум). From 1933 till 1939 he also taught Ukrainian language at the Ukrainian Communist Institute for Journalism. From September 1936 he was a postgraduate student under the guidance of Leonid Bulakhovsky. In 1939, he taught the history of the Ukrainian language and literature. From November 1939 he became the assistant professor and deputy chair of the philology department of the Kharkiv Pedagogical Institute. In 1941 he became a research fellow at the Linguistic Institute of the Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR. In that same year he was pressured to become an NKVD informer.
In 1934, Shevelov was the co-author of a grammar of the Ukrainian language in two volumes. This text was reprinted in 1935 and 1936.
Shevelov was able to avoid induction into the Red Army and remained in Kharkiv following the Soviet evacuation and during the entry of Wehrmacht troops into Kharkiv on 25 October 1941. Within Reichskommissariat Ukraine, he joined the “New Ukraine” in December 1941, a Ukrainian language newspaper partially controlled by OUN. Later Shevelov also worked at the "Ukrainian Sowing" newspaper (Ukrainian: «Український засів»). From April 1942 Shevelov worked for the city administration and collaborated with the educational organization Prosvita. In his memoirs, one of his former students Oles Honchar claimed that when as a Soviet POW he was detained in a Nazi Camp in Kharkiv, Shevelov refused his pleas for assistance [failed verification]. Shevelov answered the allegation in an interview stating that he never received the letter "...And then we had another face-to-face meeting. Honchar started attacking me - ideologically, recalling some facts that I knew nothing about. As though when he was imprisoned in Kharkiv during the war, he gave me a letter in which he asked me to help free him, and I could have, but I didn't want to. Perhaps there really was such a letter, but it never reached me.". Honchar escaped death to become a renowned and influential Ukrainian writer. Shevelov has been critical of Soviet novels including Honchar's major work.
Shevelov and his mother fled the returning Red Army's advance on Kharkiv in February 1943. He lived for a brief period in Lviv, within the General Government, where he continued to study the Ukrainian language, including the creation of a new Ukrainian grammar until the spring of 1944, when the Soviets continued their drive westwards. Shevelov with the assistance of the Ukrainian Central Committee moved to Poland (Krynica[clarification needed]) and then to Slovakia, Austria and finally Saxony.
After the fall of Nazi Germany, Shevelov worked for the Ukrainian émigré newspaper “Chas” (“Time”). In 1946 he enrolled in the Ukrainian Free University in Munich and defended his doctorate dissertation in philology in 1947, continuing on his pre-war research and work "До генези називного речення" (1941)[citation needed]. He was also vice-president of the MUR (Ukrainian: Мистецький український рух), a Ukrainian literary association (1945–49). In order to avoid repatriation to Soviet Union from Germany, he moved to neutral Sweden, where he worked in 1950–52 as Russian language lecturer at Lund University.
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George Shevelov
George Yurii Shevelov (né Schneider, 17 December 1908 – 12 April 2002) was a Ukrainian-American professor, linguist, philologist, essayist, literary historian, and literary critic. A longtime professor of Slavic philology at Columbia University, he challenged the prevailing notion of a unified East Slavic language from which Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian later developed, instead proposing that these languages emerged independently from one another.
Yuri Schneider was born in Kharkov (now Kharkiv, Ukraine) in 1908. Some sources state his place of birth as Lomzha (now Łomża, Poland), although according to Shevelov, this is because his mother falsified records fearing persecution. His father, Vladimir Georgievich Shevelov (born Vladimir Karlovich Schneider) was a high ranking Russian Imperial Army officer who held the rank of major-general. His father and mother (Varvara Vladimirovna Meder, who originally was of noble birth from an established Moscow family) were both ethnic Germans. When Russia declared war on the German Empire in 1914, his father, a fervent Russian monarchist, decided to Russify the family name, choosing a random name with the same initial (Shevelov), and also changed the patronymic “Karlovich” to “Georgievich”. Such changes required a personal petition to the Tsar, and in his case it was personally granted by Nicholas II in 1916. During the World War I, Shevelov and his mother moved to Kharkov. At the beginning of 1918, Shevelov's father was missing in action and was presumed killed.
In Kharkiv, Shevelov initially attended the E. Druzhkova Private School, then the 3rd State Boy's Gymnasium, followed by Technical School #7 (Ukrainian: 7-а трудовa школa). Under the influence of his cousin Tolia Nosiv, who worked as an anthropologist at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and had been mentored by Fedir Vovk, Shevelov developed an interest in the Ukrainian language and history. During his youth he read the Illustrated history of Ukraine by Mykhailo Hrushevsky and translated a story by Edgar Allan Poe into Ukrainian. At the age of 17, before entering university, Shevelov travelled to Kyiv together with his cousin, meeting Hrushevsky and Serhiy Yefremov.
In 1925 Shevelov graduated from the First Kharkov Trade and Industry Union School (Ukrainian: Перша харківська торговельна промислова профспілкова школа). From 1925 till 1927 he worked as a statistician and archive keeper for South Chemical Trust. In 1927–1931 he attended classes at the literary-linguistic branch of the Kharkiv People's Education Institute. He is considered a member of the Kharkiv Linguistic School. From August 1931 he was employed as a Ukrainian language school teacher. From 1932 till 1938 he was employed as a Ukrainian language teacher at the Ukrainian Communist Newspaper Technical School (Ukrainian: Український комуністичний газетний технікум). From 1933 till 1939 he also taught Ukrainian language at the Ukrainian Communist Institute for Journalism. From September 1936 he was a postgraduate student under the guidance of Leonid Bulakhovsky. In 1939, he taught the history of the Ukrainian language and literature. From November 1939 he became the assistant professor and deputy chair of the philology department of the Kharkiv Pedagogical Institute. In 1941 he became a research fellow at the Linguistic Institute of the Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR. In that same year he was pressured to become an NKVD informer.
In 1934, Shevelov was the co-author of a grammar of the Ukrainian language in two volumes. This text was reprinted in 1935 and 1936.
Shevelov was able to avoid induction into the Red Army and remained in Kharkiv following the Soviet evacuation and during the entry of Wehrmacht troops into Kharkiv on 25 October 1941. Within Reichskommissariat Ukraine, he joined the “New Ukraine” in December 1941, a Ukrainian language newspaper partially controlled by OUN. Later Shevelov also worked at the "Ukrainian Sowing" newspaper (Ukrainian: «Український засів»). From April 1942 Shevelov worked for the city administration and collaborated with the educational organization Prosvita. In his memoirs, one of his former students Oles Honchar claimed that when as a Soviet POW he was detained in a Nazi Camp in Kharkiv, Shevelov refused his pleas for assistance [failed verification]. Shevelov answered the allegation in an interview stating that he never received the letter "...And then we had another face-to-face meeting. Honchar started attacking me - ideologically, recalling some facts that I knew nothing about. As though when he was imprisoned in Kharkiv during the war, he gave me a letter in which he asked me to help free him, and I could have, but I didn't want to. Perhaps there really was such a letter, but it never reached me.". Honchar escaped death to become a renowned and influential Ukrainian writer. Shevelov has been critical of Soviet novels including Honchar's major work.
Shevelov and his mother fled the returning Red Army's advance on Kharkiv in February 1943. He lived for a brief period in Lviv, within the General Government, where he continued to study the Ukrainian language, including the creation of a new Ukrainian grammar until the spring of 1944, when the Soviets continued their drive westwards. Shevelov with the assistance of the Ukrainian Central Committee moved to Poland (Krynica[clarification needed]) and then to Slovakia, Austria and finally Saxony.
After the fall of Nazi Germany, Shevelov worked for the Ukrainian émigré newspaper “Chas” (“Time”). In 1946 he enrolled in the Ukrainian Free University in Munich and defended his doctorate dissertation in philology in 1947, continuing on his pre-war research and work "До генези називного речення" (1941)[citation needed]. He was also vice-president of the MUR (Ukrainian: Мистецький український рух), a Ukrainian literary association (1945–49). In order to avoid repatriation to Soviet Union from Germany, he moved to neutral Sweden, where he worked in 1950–52 as Russian language lecturer at Lund University.
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