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Nicolas Grunitzky | |
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 Grunitzky in 1964 | |
| 2ndPresident of Togo | |
| In office 16 January 1963 – 13 January 1967 | |
| Vice President | Antoine Meatchi |
| Preceded by | Emmanuel Bodjollé |
| Succeeded by | Kléber Dadjo |
| Prime Minister of Togo | |
| In office 12 September 1956 – 16 May 1958 | |
| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Sylvanus Olympio |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1913-04-05)5 April 1913 |
| Died | 27 September 1969(1969-09-27) (aged 56) |
| Party | PTP UDPT |
| Spouse | Vinolia Baeta |
| Relations | Sylvanus Olympio(brother-in-law) |
Nicolas Grunitzky (French pronunciation:[nikɔlagʁynitski]; 5 April 1913 – 27 September 1969) was the second president ofTogo and its thirdhead of state. He was President from 1963 to 1967. Grunitzky wasPrime Minister of Togo from 1956 to 1958 under the French Colonialloi cadre system, which created a limited "national" government in their colonial possessions. He was elected Prime Minister of Togo —still underFrench administration— in 1956. Following the1963 coup which killed his nationalist political rival and brother-in-lawSylvanus Olympio, Grunitzky was chosen by the military committee of coup leaders to be Togo's second President.[1]
He was born inAtakpamé in 1913 to aGerman father and a Togolese mother (of Ghanaian royalty).[2][3] He studiedcivil engineering at theESTP inParis and was a public administrator before leaving to form his own company. He was the secretary-general of theTogolese Party of Progress and was elected into the Togolese Representative Assembly in1951. Grunitzky also served in theFrench National Assembly from 1951 to 1958, winning elections in1951 and1956. Supported by France, he became the Prime Minister of the Republic of Togo on 12 September 1956. The PTP and its northern ally, theUnion of Chiefs and Peoples of the North, were defeated in elections held on 16 May 1958 bySylvanus Olympio'sCommittee of Togolese Unity (CUT) and their nationalist alliesJuvento, and Grunitzky subsequently went into exile.
The CUT/JUVENTO government declared Togo's independence on 27 April 1960, and Olympio (Grunitzky's chief political rival and brother-in-law) was elected the first president of independent Togo. Following acoup d'état in 1963 that ended with the assassination of President Olympio, Grunitzky was appointed president by the "Insurrection Committee" headed byEmmanuel Bodjollé. This was the first military coup in Western Africa following independence, and was organized by a group of soldiers under the direction of SergeantÉtienne 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 toParis.
He was injured in a car accident inCôte d'Ivoire, and died from complications in a hospital in Paris in 1969.
| Preceded by none | Prime Minister of Togo 1956–1958 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of Togo 1963–1967 | Succeeded by |
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