Who was Philippe Grumbach, former director of the magazine “L'Express” who revealed himself to be a KGB spy for 35 years ?

L'hebdomadaire “L'Express” révèle que son ancien directeur Philippe Grumbach était aussi un agent du KGB de 1946 à 1981. ILLUSTRATION MAXPPP – Vincent Voegtlin

Dans son édition de jeudi 15 février, le magazine hebdomadaire L'Express révèle que son directeur dans les années 1970, Philippe Grumbach, était un espion pour les services secrets de l'URSS. 

He hid behind the alias "Bork". French journalist and editor-in-chief of the magazine L'Express in the 1950s and 1960s, before becoming its director editorial staff in 1974, Philippe Grumbach was not who we thought.

As revealed by the weekly L'Express in its issue of Thursday, February 15, the one who was depicted in his death, in 2003, as a "brilliant journalist" was also a traitor to France who for 35 years worked for the KGB , until 1981.

"His intimate entourage confirmed this occult relationship to L’Express. Close to Mitterrand and Giscard, he was, unbeknownst to everyone, one of the greatest Soviet spies of the Fifth Republic", affirms the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Étienne Girard, who, with Anne Marion, signed a long-term investigation, carried out in the KGB archives.

"One of the most notable figures in the French press"

Born on June 25, 1924 in Paris, Philippe Grumbach was editorial secretary of the French Press Agency (formerly AFP) from 1946 to 1948. After a detour at Libération then Paris-Presse-l'Intransigeant, he joined L'Express in 1954 as editor. He founded Pariscope in 1965, then directed Crapouillot. 

With his experience, he subsequently held positions within the commission responsible for ensuring the quality of radio and television programs (1975-81), the High Council of Audiovisual (1977-81 ) and the National Commission for the Right of Reply (1977-81), and then became a film producer before returning to the press in 1984 at Figaro.& nbsp;

He also served stints as administrator of the National Institute for Educational Research (1978) and president and CEO of Horizons Productions (1981-86). A particularly rich career which led the Minister of Culture at the time, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, to describe him as  "one of the the most notable and respected figures of the French press", after his death. 

Hundreds of thousands of euros for information

The KGB archives on which the magazine relied in its investigation prove that Philippe Grumbach would have received the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of euros for information concerning François Mitterand and Jacques Chirac.

Was he a spy "by ideology" then "for the taste of money?", questions the current editorial director of < em>L'Express. Philippe Grumbach was unmasked in 1995, but never worried. He died in 2003, taking with him 35 years of secrets.