Torsten Hammarström

Hammarström was born on 10 June 1896 in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of county governor Alexis Hammarström [sv] and his wife Maria (née Engellau).

Hammarström served in Berlin in 1922, Chicago in 1923, at the Foreign Ministry in 1925 and in Helsinki in 1927.

[1] Hammarström was sent as envoy to Prague just after the war was over, with the task to reopen the Swedish embassy, which had been closed during the Nazi occupation.

Sweden was the first Western country to found such relations with the newly established People's Republic and for this reason, chairman Mao Zedong decided to personally receive the Swedish ambassador, Torsten Hammarström, when presenting his letter of credentials[3] which was quite unusual, and a sign that China attached great importance to this diplomatic breakthrough.

[4] Hammarström was ambassador in Beijing from 1950 to 1951 as well as being accredited as envoy in Bangkok and Manila from 1947 to 1951.