Nicolas Grunitzky (; 5 April 1913 – 27 September 1969) was the second president of

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

and its third

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

. He was President from 1963 to 1967. Grunitzky was

Prime Minister of Togo This is a list of prime ministers of Togo since the formation of the post of Prime Minister in 1960, to the present day. A total of thirteen people have served as Prime Minister of Togo – twelve men and one woman. Among them, one person, Edem ...

from 1956 to 1958 under the French Colonial ''

loi cadre The ''loi-cadre'' (Reform Act) was a French legal reform passed by the French National Assembly on 23 June 1956, named after Overseas minister Gaston Defferre. It marked a turning point in relations between France and its overseas empire. Under p ...

'' system, which created a limited "national" government in their colonial possessions. He was elected Prime Minister of Togo —still under French administration— in 1956. Following the 1963 coup which killed his nationalist political rival and brother-in-law Sylvanus Olympio, Grunitzky was chosen by the military committee of coup leaders to be Togo's second President.

Biography

He was born in

Atakpamé Atakpamé is the fifth largest city in Togo by population (84,979 inhabitants in 2006), located in the Plateaux Region of Togo. It is an industrial centre and lies on the main north-south highway, 161 km north of the capital Lomé. It is ...

in 1913 to a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

father and a Togolese mother (of

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

royalty). He studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the ESTP in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and was a public administrator before leaving to form his own company. He was the secretary-general of the

Togolese Party of Progress The Togolese Party of Progress (french: Parti togolais du progrès, PTP) was a political party in Togo. History The party was established by Nicolas Grunitzky, Pedro Olympio and Dermane Ayéva in 1946, becoming the second party in Togo.Renate Hel ...

and was elected into the Togolese Representative Assembly in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

. Grunitzky also served in the French National Assembly from 1951 to 1958, winning elections in

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

. Supported by France, he became the Prime Minister of the Republic of Togo on September 12, 1956. The PTP and its northern ally, the

Union of Chiefs and Peoples of the North The Union of Chiefs and Peoples of the North (french: Union des Chefs et des Populations du Nord, UCPN) was a political party in Togo. History The party was established in 1951 as an organisation representing traditional chiefs and notables from ...

, were defeated in elections held on May 16, 1958 by Sylvanus Olympio's Committee of Togolese Unity (CUT) and their nationalist allies Juvento, and Grunitzky subsequently went into exile. The CUT/JUVENTO government declared Togo's independence on April 27, 1960, and Olympio (Grunitzky's chief political rival and brother-in-law) was elected the first president of independent Togo. Following a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

in 1963 that ended with the assassination of President Olympio, Grunitzky was appointed president by the "Insurrection Committee" headed by

Emmanuel Bodjollé Emmanuel Bodjollé (born 1928) is a Togolese former military officer who was Chairman of the nine-member Insurrection Committee that overthrew the government of President Sylvanus Olympio on 13 January 1963. Biography Bodjollé, a former maste ...

. This was the first military coup in Western Africa following independence, and was organized by a group of soldiers under the direction of Sergeant Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadema. Grunitzky attempted to unify the country by including several political parties in his government. He was, however, toppled in a bloodless military coup led by now-Lt. Col Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadema and was exiled to

. He was injured in a car accident in Côte d'Ivoire, and died from complications in a hospital in Paris in 1969.

References

Nicolas GRUNITZKY (1913 - 1969) Base de données des députés français depuis 1789
assemblee-nationale.fr (Biography at French National Assembly) * Bridgette Kasuka. Prominent African Leaders Since Independence. Bankole Kamara Taylor (2012) * Frédéric Joël Aivo. Le président de la république en Afrique noire francophone: genèse, mutations et avenir de la fonction. L'Harmattan (2007) * GAYIBOR Nicoué. Histoire des Togolais. Des origines aux années 1960 (Tome 4 : Le refus de l'ordre colonial). KARTHALA Editions (2011)

External links

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent French-language Wikipedia article (retrieved 27 May 2005). {{DEFAULTSORT:Grunitzky, Nicolas 1913 births 1969 deaths People from Plateaux Region, Togo People of French West Africa Togolese people of Polish descent Togolese people of German descent Yoruba royalty Yoruba politicians Prime Ministers of Togo Presidents of Togo Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Deputies of the 3rd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Leaders ousted by a coup Road incident deaths in France