“Robert Grossmann has just left us. With him, it is one of the last great Alsatian Gaullists who is leaving,” reacted on X (ex-Twitter) during the night the LR deputy for Bas-Rhin Patrick Hetzel. The Alsatian politician Robert Grossmann, founder of the Youth Union for Progress (UJP), died at the age of 83.
Former President of the Urban Community of Strasbourg (CUS), which preceded the current Eurométropole, he served on the city’s authorities for more than 49 years as advisor, deputy and deputy mayor. In a press release this Friday morning, Pia Imbs, president of the Eurométropole, recalls “with difficulty” that she “obviously remembers from him the creation of the Zénith, several extensions of the tram network notably as far as Lingolsheim, the renovation of the Rhénus, the creation of the Malraux media library and the transformation of the Strasbourg station”. “In addition, he worked strongly at the national level for the recognition of the specific role of intermunicipalities and defended Alsatian and cross-border interests. »
In tandem with Fabienne Keller
Born in 1940, Robert Grossmann was only 25 years old when he founded the UJP, a young Gaullist movement, in 1965. Engaged in Strasbourg political life, he sat on the Strasbourg municipal council that same year, which he did not leave until 2014. As a reminder, in 2001, the right won, with a UMP tandem composed of Robert Grossmann and Fabienne Keller , the town hall of Strasbourg. He became president of the CUS of Strasbourg and Fabienne Keller took the post of mayor. In 2008, the outgoing tandem was not renewed, but Robert Grossmann chaired an opposition group. He will therefore have served a total of 49 years, from 1965 to 2014, on the municipal council of Strasbourg, but also several years on the General Council of Bas-Rhin or the Regional Council of Alsace.
Jérôme Besnard, former leader of the UJP, also indicated that he learned “with pain of the death of the founder in 1965 of this beautiful Gaullist youth organization”. “He marked Strasbourg political life for several decades with his eloquence and leaves our city a legacy in which his memory will live on,” municipal councilor Pierre Jakubowicz, for his part, reacted on X. Robert Grossmann was also the author of around ten works.
A register of condolences is installed at Strasbourg Town Hall (9, rue brûlée) for those who wish to pay tribute to him.