TORONTO, November 1, 1996--A 74-year-old former prisoner of war will be among the 2,000 degree recipients graduating from York University's fall convocation ceremonies this weekend.

George Walder will be receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from York University's Atkinson College, and he says he enjoyed studying the same history he survived before he came to Canada.

Walder began studying part-time at York University's Atkinson College as a senior citizen in 1989, while working full-time, first as a taxi driver, and then as an assistant at a funeral home. "It is very satisfying to be graduating from university," he said, "But on the other hand, I feel sad that circumstances did not allow me to do it earlier." (For more biographical information on George Walder, see the accompanying press release on Walder's life.)

Walder, who rode his bicycle to York University from his home in Scarborough up until the age of 72, said he thoroughly enjoyed his history classes, although he says "I was always arguing with my professors about what happened, since I was actually there at the time." Although he was often the oldest student in his class, "it was no problem. Within a few days, I was one of the gang." He plans to continue taking courses at York, and enjoyed his time as a university student so much that he recently decided to donate $10,000 in his will to the history department at York.

Walder will be receiving his BA at the convocation ceremony on Saturday Nov. 2 at 10:30 a.m., along with other degree recipients at Atkinson College.

An honorary degree will be conferred in absentia at that same ceremony to Herbert de Souza, a prominent intellectual and public figure from Brazil who has been a dedicated activist in a national campaign against hunger and poverty, and an advocate for the creation of jobs to combat poverty and starvation. Herbert de Souza has been a hemophiliac for many years and was diagnosed as being HIV-positive in 1985. He was a doctoral student at York in the 1970s, when he pioneered research on Latin America which was influential in establishing York's Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).

Prof. Stuart Robbins, chair of the School of Physical Education at York, will receive a University professorship on Friday, Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. during the convocation ceremonies for Stong, Vanier and Founders Colleges, and the Faculty of Education. He will be acknowledged for his extraordinary and innovative leadership not only at York, but in the external community.

Prof. David Rennie of the Department of Psychology at York will receive the Graduate Studies' Teaching Award on Friday, Nov. 1 at 2:30 p.m. during the convocation ceremonies for Glendon and Norman Bethune Colleges, the Schulich School of Business, the Faculties of Pure and Applied Science, Environmental Studies, Graduate Studies, and Osgoode Hall Law School. Rennie's full and dynamic participation in teaching, supervision and curriculum development at the graduate level has placed him among the finest teachers in his field. His nurturing and promotion of the clinical area of graduate instruction has been instrumental in creating one of the finest training programs in clinical psychology in North America.

Prof. Christopher Innes of the Department of English at York will receive a Distinguished Research Professorship on Friday, Nov. 1 at 2:30 p.m.. Through his research, Innes has had a strong influence on the field of drama studies, which ranks him among the top scholars in this discipline in Canada and abroad. He has held an appointment to the Benian's Fellowship at St. John's College, Cambridge. In recognition of his national and international stature, he was awarded the largest research grant won by any member of the Faculty of Arts in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) competition held last year.

Prof. Maurice Elliot of the Department of English will receive a University Professorship on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2:30 p.m. during the convocation ceremonies for Calumet, McLaughlin and Winters Colleges, and the Faculty of Fine Arts. Elliot was Master of Winters College for 10 years, and, as the Convocation University Orator, has the ability to deliver a citation as a memorable art form. He is currently chair of the English department for the second term.

York University President Susan Mann will address each convocation ceremony. All ceremonies will be held in Tait McKenzie Main Gymnasium on the York campus.

For more information about convocation ceremonies at York, call:

Mary Ann Horgan
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
YU/055/96

George Walder first came to York University as a 65-year-old student at Atkinson College. During his university years, he always worked, first as a taxi driver, and then in a full time job as an assistant at a funeral home.

Walder suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago, and is now off work recovering. He plans to attend his graduation, "even if I have to be carried in on a stretcher or in a coffin! It is very satisfying to be graduating from university, but on the other hand, I feel sad that circumstances did not allow me to do it earlier."

Here is his story:

Born in Hungary in 1922, Walder was conscripted at the age of 20 into the Hungarian army as a forced labourer -- alongside other Jewish Hungarians. In 1944, he was captured by the Russians and ordered to participate in a forced march eastward to Siberia. He escaped the march, and met up with about 100 other former prisoners of war, from Hungary, Poland, Britain, and elsewhere.

The group headed for Yugoslavia, where Serbian villagers supplied them with weapons and food. Walder's group later came face to face with hostile Germans and Croatians. Walder, who is fluent in German, tried to trick the hostile group into believing that they would soon be surrounded by a large Allied force. Walder told them if they dropped their weapons, they would be treated fairly, according to the Geneva conventions.

The Germans in the group dropped their weapons, but the Croatians began shooting. Many Croatians and some of the former POWs in the Allied group were killed. Walder and his fellow POWs -- now accompanied by their German prisoners -- made their way to a Serbian village, captured a car with a radio, and contacted the British office in Yugoslavia. They asked for directions to the British office where they would be safe, but the British wouldn't reveal their location over the radio. Instead, the British office asked Walder's group to meet at a halfway point. The meeting never happened. The Russians came from behind and captured Walder's group and its German prisoners. The Russians demanded all weapons. Some of the Germans and Poles who refused to hand them over were badly beaten.

For the second time, Walder was in the capture of the Russians. His fellow Allies were POWs again, as were the Germans they themselves were holding captive. The entire group, including Allies, Germans, and Poles, were taken to Baja, a forced labour camp on the Hungarian-Yugoslav border, where prisoners were regularly beaten, tortured, starved, or shipped to other eastern camps.

After eight months in the camp, Walder was released. The Russians let the last few hundred prisoners go, including Walder, and the camp was closed.

After the war ended, Walder returned to his native town of Kaposvar in Hungary hoping to find some of his family there. He didn't. He was the sole survivor of the war in his family, so he worked alone in the family's clothing business until 1950, when he moved to the capital city of Budapest and became a truck driver. In 1952, he was called up to the Hungarian Red Army as a reservist with the tank corps, and he learned to drive a tank. Walder was captured by the Russians for a third time in 1956 when the Hungarians tried to repel the occupying Russians. Holed up with some university students in the basement of the famous Fishermen's Bastion castle, some of Walder's Hungarian friends attacked the Russians and saved him and the students. Walder then spent five days hiding in Budapest, staying in ditches and wherever he could find shelter.

In November 1956, he found a truck, and drove out of Hungary into Austria, where he worked as a German-English-Hungarian interpreter at the Canadian consulate in Vienna. One month later, a colleague talked him into travelling to Toronto, where he began working at a Red Cross refugee centre . During that time, YMCA president Hank Labatt convinced him that he should go to university, but Walder couldn't afford it. After the refugee centre closed down, Walder worked as a door-to-door salesman for several years before spending 1965 in Australia, working at an art gallery in Melbourne.

He returned to Canada in 1966, driving a cab until 1972, when he switched to public relations at the Swiss Chalet restaurant's head office. He went back to cab driving from 1979 to 1989, when his university days first began.

"My courses examined the history I lived through, so I was always arguing with my professors about what happened, since I was actually there at the time," says Walder, who rode his bicycle to York from his home in Scarborough up until the age of 72.

Walder, who recently decided to donate $10,000 to the history department at York University, will be receiving his BA at the convocation ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 10:30 a.m., along with other degree recipients at Atkinson College. The ceremony will be held in the Tait McKenzie gymnasium.

For more information, call:

Mary Ann Horgan
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
YU/056/96