Gilbert Grandval

Gilbert Grandval
French Representative to the Saar Protectorate
In office 1945–1955
Prime Minister	Johannes Hoffmann Heinrich Welsch
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Charles de Carbonne
Personal details
Born	Yves Gilbert Edmond Hirsch (1904-02-12)12 February 1904 Paris, France
Died	29 November 1981(1981-11-29) (aged 77) Saint-Cloud, France
Spouse(s)	Simone Octavie Léa Mapou Yvonne Schwenter
Children	3 (Bertrand, Christine and Gérard)

Gilbert Grandval (born Gilbert Hirsch, subsequently Gilbert Hirsch-Ollendorff; 12 February 1904 – 29 November 1981) was a French Resistance activist who went on to become the military governor of the Saarland in 1945. He remained in post for a decade, although the nature of the job evolved and there were changes of title in 1948 and again in 1952 when he became, formally, the French ambassador to the Saarland. Subsequently, he became a government minister during the early years of the Fifth Republic.^[1][2]

Gilbert Grandval was the alias Hirsch-Ollendorff used from approximately 1943 while working with the Resistance. Subsequently, he was authorized permanently to substitute the Grandval name for the family name with which he had been born, both on his own account and on behalf of his father. The authorization came from a decree signed on 25 February 1946 by the President of the postwar provisional government, and officially transcribed at the appropriate town hall on 12 March 1948.^[3]