georgy fotev was born on 24 august 1941 in the village of dimitrovche, svilengrad municipality, bulgaria. his life under the communist regime was full of hardships. his father being a political emigrant in west germany, he and his family were interned in 1950. after completing military service in the labour forces, for years he was prohibited from applying to study in any higher education institution. repressed by the communist regime, he was employed as a manual worker for several years. he eventually graduated in philosophy at sofia university st. kliment ohridsky in 1968. on political grounds, for years he was denied the right to do academic work. in 1976 he started work as a research fellow at the institute of sociology of the bulgarian academy of sciences. in 1989 he became a professor. in 1991 he was minister of science and education. in 1992–2003 he was director of the institute of sociology at bas. president of the bulgarian sociological association . national programme director for the european values study.