Based on: “Trautmann, Oskar”, by Das Bundesarchiv. http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/adr/getPPN/133639274/
John P. Fox, Germany and the Far Eastern Crisis 1931-1938: A Study in Diplomacy and Ideology. New York 1982

Last updated:23/07/2019

Oskar Paul Trautmann was born on 7 Mai 1877 in Stradow (Lower Lusatia). He was a lawyer and diplomat. After graduating, he entered the diplomatic service in 1904. He joined the East Asia department of the Foreign Office in 1919 and two years later became Consul General in Kobe. From 1931 to 1941, he was the head of the German Legation in Beijing. From 1935 he served as Ambassador to China in Nanjing until the members of the Foreign Office were ordered to return to Germany in April 1938. Trautmann tried to delay the return but eventually had to leave China in May. Trautmann was in favor of a balanced East Asia policy and was trying to uphold good relations with China. He tried to promote Sino-German relations against the influence of pro-Japanese members of the Foreign Office, such as Herbert von Dirksen who was German Ambassador to Japan and a member of the Nazi Party. He died on 10 December 1950 in Berlin.