Göran von Otter

Göran von Otter (1907–1988) was a Swedish diplomat in Berlin during World War II. Anne Sofie von Otter is von Otter's daughter.

On August 20, 1942, von Otter met Kurt Gerstein in a train from Warsaw to Berlin. Gerstein was an official at the "Institute of Hygiene" of the Waffen-SS and was on his way back from the Nazi concentration camp Treblinka. One day earlier, Gerstein had witnessed several hundred Jewish victims being murdered in the gas chambers at Belzec.

Gerstein and von Otter happened to be in the same compartment of the train. After the war, von Otter wrote about the encounter that Gerstein gave him a detailed report of what had happened at Belzec, seemed very disturbed by it and implored him to transmit this information to the Swedish authorities. Von Otter did talk with high-ranking officials at the Swedish Foreign Office. However, the information was not passed on to the Allies or to any other party.

After the end of the war, von Otter attempted to ascertain the whereabouts of Gerstein, but was not able to locate him before Gerstein's death on July 25, 1945, in a Paris military prison.

References

* von Otter, Birgitta: "Navelsträngar och narrspeglar". Stockholm: Alba, 1991. ISBN 917458247X.
* Peter Englund: "Brev från nollpunkten". Historiska essäer. Stockholm: Atlantis, 1996. ISBN 9174862316.