Otto Hammann was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 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 von Bülow

Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...

. 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

Leo von Caprivi

Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprera de Montecuccoli was a German major general and statesman, who succeeded Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor of Germany...

, and the Foreign Secretary, Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein

Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein

Adolf Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein was a German politician and Secretary of State of the Foreign Office of the German Empire.-Biography:...

, in the early 1890's, against the Bismarckian

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 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

German Revolution

The German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...

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