Group photo of Chernivtsi, Ukraine Cultural Exchange Program members renewed for ten years. People seated at table (l to r): Dale Miquelon, professor of History; Prof. Bialyk; Dr. Chervinsky, Dr. Leo F. Kristjanson, University President; Roma Franko, professor, Department of Slavic Studies; Dean Makar and George Foty, associate professor of Slavic Studies. The program was renewed for ten more years.

Bio/Historical Note: George (Yurko) Foty was born on 26 August 1937 in the Bukovynian village of Tovtry (now western Ukraine). Given the political climate of 1942 Eastern Europe and the fact that his father was a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, it soon became too dangerous for the family to stay, and so they began their long journey west. Along the way, Yurko’s sister Marta was born, and the family continued to flee the Soviet Union on foot. An unexpected saving grace for them was the German ancestry of Minodora, Foty’s great-grandmother, whose ancestors were resettled to Ukrainian lands during the reign of Catherine II of Russia. Beginning in 1944, Germans and Volksdeutsche were expelled from various Eastern and Central European countries. The Foty family’s distant German ancestry and Minodora’s knowledge of the German language allowed them to escape Soviet persecution and certain death, and be “repatriated” to German lands. Once in Germany, they were given shelter in various rural areas in exchange for odd jobs. Upon the end of the war, the family found themselves in an Allied displaced persons’ camp “Lexenfeld” outside of Salzberg, In 1947 the family was sponsored to immigrate to Canada by a cousin, and after a brief period in Winnipeg, ended up at their cousin’s farm near Smoky Lake, Alberta. In 1950 the family moved to Toronto. The Ukrainian community there provided him with many cultural opportunities that also brought him great joy, including Ukrainian dancing and becoming a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox youth group SUMK. Upon graduation, Foty briefly experimented with studying engineering at the University of Toronto but entered the University of British Columbia to take the only Slavic courses available to him, which focused on the Russian perspective of history in Eastern Europe. This thirst for knowledge and desire to fight historiographical tendencies would shape his life’s work. Foty also played football for the UBC Thunderbirds. He was accepted into the Masters program in the Slavics department at the University of Alberta. His thesis on the mythology of Kyivan Rus (1963) was the first thesis in the field of Ukrainian folklore at the university. Foty earned his MA in 1963. Even before convocating, he was hired by the Slavic Studies department at the University of Saskatchewan. Foty was most proud of the student and faculty exchange with Chernivtsi University in western Ukraine, a historically unique opportunity that deeply affected the lives of those involved. The Chernivtsi Exchange was a cultural and educational exchange occurring during a time in history when such opportunities were not readily available. Foty accompanied the students in 1985, which was his first visit back to his homeland. George Foty died on 13 September 2020 in Saskatoon.