Interview with Christine Batruch: Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, Ukraine’s Global Visionary and the Origins of the Davos Forum
This year marks the centenary of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, one of the most internationally respected Ukrainians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Born in Western Ukraine, he lived through war, forced labour, refugee life, education in Canada, academic leadership in Switzerland and decades of service to Ukraine.
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His life connected Ukraine with some of the world’s most important intellectual, political and business platforms — including the early Davos meetings that later evolved into the World Economic Forum.
Why is Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s centenary so important?
Christine Batruch: This year marks the hundredth anniversary of my father’s birth, and many private and public institutions in Ukraine have decided to honour him. I believe this matters because his life was not only extraordinary, but deeply connected with Ukraine’s place in the world.
Few Ukrainians have acquired such an undisputed international reputation as Bohdan Hawrylyshyn. He believed in Ukraine, in its democratic future and in its vibrant youth. He saw Ukraine not as a marginal country, but as a nation capable of contributing to the world through ideas, values, leadership and responsibility. Read more stories about national memory and resilience in our Ukraine section.
His centenary is also important because Russia has tried for many years to erase Ukraine’s history, language, culture and heroes. That is why we must reclaim the truth and honour those Ukrainians who helped make Ukraine what it is today: a country that, even in the face of brutal war, remains true to democratic values.
Bohdan Hawrylyshyn was a Ukrainian-Canadian-Swiss economist, management educator, philanthropist and public thinker whose work connected business education, democratic responsibility and Ukraine’s international development.
Where did your father’s journey begin?
Christine Batruch: My father, Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, was born on 19 October 1926 in the village of Koropets in Western Ukraine. Until the Second World War, he lived a normal rural life.
But the war completely disrupted everything. He was taken to Germany as an Ostarbeiter and later ended up in a prisoner-of-war camp, where he completed high school. His life could have ended in hardship and obscurity, as happened to so many people of his generation.
Ostarbeiter was the term used by Nazi Germany for forced labourers from occupied Central and Eastern Europe, many of whom were taken from Ukraine and other occupied territories during the Second World War.
But he had extraordinary intelligence, discipline and inner strength. After the war, he emigrated to Canada as a refugee.
How did he start his life in Canada?
Christine Batruch: To pay for his passage to Canada, he committed to work as a lumberjack for six months. He was physically frail, but very smart. He understood that language was the key to survival and progress.
So he traded English lessons with his fellow workers in exchange for help with his daily chores — even though he was only slightly ahead of them in learning the language himself.
That says a great deal about him. He always found a way to turn difficulty into learning, and learning into leadership.
How did he move from being a refugee to becoming a global intellectual and leader?
Christine Batruch: While working as a barman to support himself, he became the first Ukrainian refugee to receive a scholarship to attend the University of Toronto. He studied Mechanical Engineering and graduated first in his class three years later.
Later, while working as an engineer at Alcan in Quebec, he discovered that the company had founded a management school in Geneva — the Centre d’Etudes Industrielles, which was later renamed the International Management Institute and is now IMD.
He convinced his employer to send him there for a year in 1957. During his time there, he was invited to return as a professor. He accepted and came back three years later. In 1968, he became Director of the Institute and began lecturing around the world.
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The story of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s international path is not only a personal biography. It is also a powerful example of how Ukrainian intellectual talent entered the global arena through education, management and ethical leadership.
What was his connection to Davos and the origins of the World Economic Forum?
Christine Batruch: In 1971, my father convened a symposium in Davos for board members and CEOs of leading multinational companies. This was the first step towards what later became the World Economic Forum.
Today, many people associate Davos almost exclusively with the World Economic Forum as an institution. But it is important to understand that the early intellectual and organisational foundations of the Davos business dialogue were shaped by people like Bohdan Hawrylyshyn — a Ukrainian who understood global management, international responsibility and the need to bring leaders together across sectors.
He was not simply a participant in global conversations. He helped create the space where such conversations could happen. For more stories about leadership, business diplomacy and global platforms, visit our Global Business Week 2026 Davos coverage.
World Economic Forum is an international organisation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, where leaders from business, government, academia and civil society discuss global economic and social challenges.
Why did he decide to dedicate the second part of his life to Ukraine?
Christine Batruch: In 1986, he took early retirement and decided to devote the rest of his life to Ukraine.
In 1989, he founded the International Management Institute in Kyiv, together with the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. IMI-Kyiv became the first international management school in the entire Soviet Union.
This was a historic step. He understood that Ukraine needed not only political independence, but also a new generation of managers, leaders, thinkers and institution-builders.
What role did he play in Ukraine’s independence and early democratic development?
Christine Batruch: In 1991, he took part in parliamentary discussions that led to Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence. A year later, with the support of George Soros, he helped establish the International Renaissance Foundation.
That same year, he founded the Council of Advisors to the Presidium of the Parliament of Ukraine. It included internationally recognised leaders such as Romano Prodi, Raymond Barre, Sir Geoffrey Howe, Lady Shirley Williams and Zbigniew Brzezinski.
My father had met many of these people through his years as Chairman of the St Gallen Symposium, which brought together political, business, academic and civil society leaders.
He also served as an adviser to Ukraine’s first presidents.
Why did he later focus so strongly on young people?
Christine Batruch: His meeting with youth leaders of the Orange Revolution convinced him that the future of Ukraine depended on the next generation of ethical, democratic leaders.
He decided to focus his energy on young people. He established his foundation and initiated several programmes, including “Young Generation Will Change Ukraine”, which now has more than 1,600 alumni, and the UN Youth Delegates programme, with 22 delegates to date.
His goal was to equip young Ukrainians with the skills, values and networks needed to lead Ukraine through its democratic transition. More articles on education, leadership and future generations are available in our Education section.
What was the Declaration of Human Responsibilities?
Christine Batruch: In 2014, my father authored a Declaration of Human Responsibilities. His idea was simple but powerful: with every human right comes a personal and civic responsibility.
The Declaration includes 15 principles across five main areas: family, society, country, the world and oneself.
In 2021, Ukraine became the first country to officially recognise a national Human Responsibility Day in honour of this declaration.
This was very meaningful because my father believed that democracy cannot survive on rights alone. It also needs responsibility, ethics and active citizenship.
What has happened to his legacy since his passing?
Christine Batruch: My father passed away in 2016, but the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Family Foundation has continued his mission. We have expanded the scope and number of programmes, especially those aimed at young leaders.
In recognition of his lifelong support for Ukraine, an inter-factional parliamentary group in memory of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn was formed. Later, the Parliament of Ukraine included the centenary of his birth in the Resolution on Commemorations and Anniversaries to be marked at the state level in 2026–2027.
This shows that his legacy is not only personal or family-related. It has become part of Ukraine’s national memory.
Why is it especially important to honour Ukrainian figures like Bohdan Hawrylyshyn today?
Christine Batruch: Because Russia has used its propaganda machine to erase Ukraine’s history, language, culture and heroes. It has tried to convince the world that Ukraine has no separate identity, no great thinkers, no historic contribution and no independent civilisational path.
This is false.
Honouring Bohdan Hawrylyshyn is part of reclaiming historical truth. He was a Ukrainian who became a global thinker. He helped shape international management education, contributed to the early Davos dialogue, advised Ukraine’s leaders, supported democratic institutions and dedicated his final decades to young Ukrainians.
He believed in Ukraine long before many in the world understood Ukraine’s importance.
Today, when Ukraine is defending not only its territory but also its identity, memory and democratic future, his example matters more than ever.
What is the main message of Bohdan Hawrylyshyn’s life?
Christine Batruch: His life shows that one person, even starting as a displaced refugee with no resources, can become a global bridge between nations, institutions and generations.
He believed that Ukraine belongs to the democratic world. He believed that young people can change their country. He believed that leadership must be ethical. He believed that freedom must be connected with responsibility.
That is why his centenary is not only a commemoration of the past.
It is a call to the future.
Slava Ukraini. Heroiam Slava.
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