Eugen Ott

Who was Eugen Ott?

Eugen Ott was the German ambassador to Japan during the early years of World War II, he is most famously known for having worked with Soviet spy Richard Sorge.

During World War I, Ott served with distinction on the eastern front as an officer with the 26th Infantry Division. His commander was General Wilhelm von Urach, who was elected king of Lithuania in 1918 as Mindaugas II of Lithuania.

Prior to Adolf Hitler coming to power in Germany, Ott had been the adjutant of General Kurt von Schleicher.

In 1934 he was sent to Tokyo as military attaché at the German Embassy.

In early September 1940, Heinrich Georg Stahmer arrived in Tokyo to assist Ambassador Ott negotiate the Tripartite Pact with Japan. Stahmer would later replace Ott as ambassador when Richard Sorge, who had been working for Ott in Japan as an agent for the Abwehr, was unmasked as a spy for the Soviet Union in Japan in late 1941. Ott left Tokyo and went to Peking, China, for the rest of the war.

Prange suggests, in his analysis of Richard Sorge, that Sorge was entirely trusted by Ott, and was allowed access to top secret cables from Berlin in the embassy. This trust was the main foundation for Sorge's success as a Red Army spy.