Hiroshi Ōshima

Hiroshi Ōshima was a Japanese Army general and diplomat who served as ambassador to Nazi Germany before and during World War II. His reports to Tokyo provided detailed accounts of German military planning and policy.

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Hideki Tojo: Hideki Tojo was a Japanese general and politician who served as prime minister from 1941 to 1944. As wartime prime minister, Tojo led the government that received Ōshima’s diplomatic reports.
Imperial Japanese Army: The Imperial Japanese Army was Japan’s land force from the Meiji era until its dissolution in 1945. Ōshima’s army career shaped his appointment and his close identification with military policy.
Magic (cryptography): Magic was the United States’ wartime program for decrypting selected Japanese diplomatic communications. American officials read many of Ōshima’s encrypted reports without his knowledge.
Tripartite Pact: The Tripartite Pact was the 1940 agreement joining Germany, Italy, and Japan in a formal alliance. Ōshima was a key advocate of the pact and helped negotiate Japan’s side of the alliance.
Joachim von Ribbentrop: Joachim von Ribbentrop was Nazi Germany’s foreign minister from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop was Ōshima’s principal counterpart in Berlin and a leading advocate of the Axis alliance.
Japanese Army Academy: The Japanese Army Academy was an institution that trained officers for service in the Imperial Japanese Army. Ōshima’s officer formation began in the army’s professional training system.
Purple (cipher machine): Purple was a Japanese cipher machine used to encrypt high-level diplomatic messages before and during World War II. Messages reporting Ōshima’s conversations were protected by Purple, whose encryption American cryptanalysts broke.
Anti-Comintern Pact: The Anti-Comintern Pact was a 1936 agreement between Germany and Japan directed against the Communist International. Ōshima supported the earlier German-Japanese alignment that preceded the Tripartite Pact.
Adolf Hitler: Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. Hitler granted Ōshima unusually direct access to German assessments and military intentions.
Military attaché: A military attaché is an armed-forces officer assigned to an embassy to report on military affairs. Ōshima’s earlier work as a military representative abroad prepared him for diplomatic service in Germany.