Otto Hammann (23 January 1852 in

Blankenhain Blankenhain is a town in the Weimarer Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is south of Weimar. History Until the Napoleonic Wars, Blankenhain had been a part of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. After the Fourth Coalition's defeat at Jena and Aue ...

– 18 June 1928 in

Fürstenberg/Havel Fürstenberg () is a town in the Oberhavel district, Brandenburg, Germany. Until 1919, Fürstenberg was part of the former Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Geography Fürstenberg is situated on the River Havel, south of Neustrelitz, and ...

) was a German

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and a German Foreign Office official 1894–1916.

Biography

Hammann was engaged in journalism from 1877 to 1893 and was appointed, in 1894, director of the Press Section of the German Foreign Office, a post which he continued to hold until 1916. Hammann was the trusted adviser of Chancellor

Bernhard von Bülow Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow (german: Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin Fürst von Bülow ; 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as the foreign minister for three years and then as the chancellor of t ...

. Hammann always kept an attentive eye upon public opinion as reflected or created in the press. He had personally played a leading part in the defensive campaign of the Imperial Chancellor,

Leo von Caprivi Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprara de Montecuccoli (English: ''Count George Leo of Caprivi, Caprara, and Montecuccoli''; born Georg Leo von Caprivi; 24 February 1831 – 6 February 1899) was a German general and statesman who served as the cha ...

, and the Foreign Secretary,

Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein Adolf Hermann Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein (12 October 1842 in Karlsruhe – 24 September 1912 in Badenweiler) was a German politician and State Secretary of the Foreign Office of the German Empire. Biography Marschall von Bieberstein' ...

, in the early 1890s, against the Bismarckian opposition. Hammann's business was to inspire the German and, as far as possible, the foreign press in a sense favourable to German policy and above all to obtain full and accurate information with regard to the personality and circumstances of journalists.

Works

Hammann's position enabled him to acquire a great deal of exclusive information with regard to the more secret ways of German policy, and he embodied a considerable portion of what he knew in the three volumes of reminiscences which he published after the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

: ''Der neue Kurs, Erinnerungen'' (1918), ''Zur Vorgeschichte des Weltkriegs'' and ''Um den Kaiser, Erinnerungen aus den Jahren 1906-1909'' (1919).

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External links

* 1852 births 1928 deaths German journalists German male journalists German male writers {{Germany-journalist-stub