Eugen Ott (8 April 1889 – 22 January 1977) was the German ambassador to Japan during the early years of World War II who was notably deceived and compromised by Soviet spy Richard Sorge.

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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2019)

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Eugen Ott
Eugen Ott as Oberstleutnant (circa 1933)
Born	(1889-04-08)8 April 1889 Rottenburg, Württemberg, German Empire
Died	23 January 1977(1977-01-23) (aged 87) Tutzing, Upper Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1907–51
Rank	Generalmajor
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Relations	Helma Bodewig (wife); 2 children

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

Before Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany (1933), 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 Ott in negotiating the Tripartite Pact with Japan. Stahmer later replaced Ott as ambassador when Richard Sorge, who had been working for Ott in Japan as an agent for the Abwehr, was unmasked as a Soviet spy in Japan in late 1941.

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

Ott left Tokyo and went to Peking, China, for the rest of the war.

• German-Japanese relations

• Prange, Gordon W. (1984). Target Tokyo. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-050677-9.

• Newspaper clippings about Eugen Ott in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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