Albert Speer

His two monumental books, "Inside the Third Reich," and "Spandau," should be required reading for everyone on this forum.

Published a few decades ago, they seem to have been forgotten by many who are interested in WWII. I started rereading Spandau, and so much is coming back to my memory, such an excellent book/diary.

 

Gromit, what a coincidence, I just started reading "Inside the Third Reich" last night! I bought it for a buck at a booksale.

From what I have read from reviews on Amazon, its pretty good. I'm glad to have a rogue here give a thumbs up on it as well.

 

Speer's memoirs were the first to be published, by anyone deep inside Hitler's inner circle. I think Speer might have been the only survivor of Hitler's inner circle that wasn't a raving lunatic.

 

Well, in the introduction last night, it stated that Speer knowingly put his life on the line at Nuremburg, taking responsibility for using slave labor and such. That takes some guts!

Furthermore, Speer wasn't a raving anti-semite, was he? Or am I wrong on that?

 

That would be a no. He had a fatal blind eye, dazzled by the pomp and circumstance, and being allowed to design freely. A thing architects only get to dream of. Hitler knew exactly which button to push on Speer, to bring him along.

 

Don't forget Speer's third book, Infiltration: How Heinrich Himmler Schemed to Build an SS Industrial Empire; I have a hard copy on my bookshelf, but I haven't managed to get around to it yet.

 

Speer was the clever one at the Nuremburg Trials. While the rest of the defendants were claiming that they were just following orders or were denying that the events even took place, Speer was bright enough to realize that the only chance to save his neck was cleanse his soul and throw himself on the mercy of the court. Whenever I watch the movie "Judgement at Nuremburg" with Burt Lancaster, I can't help but think of Speer. He was far more intelligent than the standard thugs that occupied most positions of authority in Nazi Germany, so one would have thought him more capable understanding his crimes than many of his cohorts. If he did, then his crimes were the worst of all. By the way, I have his first two books and they are interesting as well as entertaining, but it needs to be remembered that they were written by a man who was intent on justifying his past.

 

After reading Speer's own books, I'd highly recommend Gitta Sereny's 'Albert Speer - His Battle With Truth'.

 

An informative read indeed

 

I am about 150 pages into Inside the Third Reich an I am very much enjoying it.

Does anyone know if any of Albert Speer's wooden models survived the war? I did a quick search, but I have not found any.

 

I dont really know it Darren, but here is a link to a model of the city of "Germania" which was made after his original plans.

Mythos Germania: So wollte Hitler Berlin umbauen | RP ONLINE

Grueße

Ulrich

 

Thanks Ulrich, I'm reading the chapter right now dealing with the great hall.

Pretty impressive model, however, Speer stated, that the great hall would have made Hitler look very insignificant when he talked in it due to its size.

I also read today on wikipedia about a structure in Berlin that they built to test the weight the ground could take before the built the hall, and it sank 16 cm. Aparently the ground in Berlin could not even handle the enourmous weight!

 

Darren,

if you will ever make the way to Germany, contact these guys

Berliner Unterwelten e.V. | Start

They have good tours through the Bunkers of Berlin and they take care of the "Schwerbelastungskörper".

Regards

Ulrich

 

Danke noch einmal Ulrich!

I just found out yesterday that the ampitheater I visited outside
Heidelberg was designed by Speer. Here is a "photo of a photo" that I took in Germany back in 1998. I remember it was quite a hike to get to it! Very impressive place to eat lunch at.

 

Bitte gern geschehen!

Thats funny, you as an American visited Heidelberg and myself has seen that nice city only at TV!

Regards

Ulrich

 

I remember reading his book Inside the Third Reich when I was about 14 after seeing a mini series I think and really enjoying it. I'm afraid that when I re read it about 10 years later, after a few pages of his whining that he wasn't really a bad guy, the book flew across the room bounced off the wall and landed in the waste paper basket.

 

Albert Speer was a liar of the largest kind. His knowledge of the camps should have been obvious to all, using them as he did for a labour pool. Like Vladd, I was not bamboozled by his lucid writing style or his passionate observances of the Third Reich as a benevolent dictatorship. We should have sent a special unit to knock him off, a-la Heydrich. It would have shortened the war by many months and many lives.

Speer should have swung from the rafters at Nuremburg.

 

I'm glad he didn't "[swing] from the rafters at Nuremburg" mostly because I love his books. They are most engaging and interesting reads, even if you hate the man or don't believe his version of events. Regardless, I'm glad he wrote them, and for the most part, I think he's pretty sincere in his books. I do think he honestly had remorse for what he did, and he willingly took the punishment he recieved. Naturally anyone in his position is not going to realize their faults until the sh** really hits the fan, so you shouldn't go around blaming him so much. I don't think you can honestly say you would have acted differently if you were him back then. A different time, perspective than your life now. I wish more of the higher ups were able to write their memoirs--they'd be intriguing to read and find their bias.

After having read the Speer memior in english, it is particularly fun to read it in its original German--somehow it just has that much more power to it that way....

An awesome book!

 

As has been mentioned in another post, the publications by Speer himself are nicely balanced by a forensically in-depth book by Gitta Sereny, namely 'Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth". Within this awesome biography Speer's claims are examined with incredible tenacity, accuracy and historical researching. She gives us a view that perhaps all is not quite as Albert would have liked the readers of his books to think, and covers the awkward truth that despite his best efforts to persistently protest his utter ignorance to systematic murder and wanton annihilation of Jews and other peoples, Speer is caught out by historical evidence placing him in environments where knowledge of these crimes was an absolute certitude.

Therefore, if Speer's books are 'required reading' by all members of this forum, then so too should this particular bibliographical behemoth be.