Nicolas Grunitzky

Nicolas Grunitzky was born on April 5, 1913, in Atakpame to a German merchant father and an aristocratic Togolese mother. Educated in Paris at the prestigious École Conducteur des Travaux Publics, he qualified as a civil engineer, working on rail and road infrastructure in colonial West Africa.

Elected to the French National Assembly in 1951, Grunitzky founded the Parti Togolais du Progres (PTP) and served as Prime Minister of the autonomous Republic of Togo from 1956 to 1958. Following the assassination of President Sylvanus Olympio in 1963, Grunitzky was invited by the military insurrection to assume the presidency, promulgating a new constitution and steering the economy until he was deposed in 1967 by Gnassingbe Eyadema.