In his writings, Speer claimed to have finished five thousand books while in prison. "[1]:498507, In a 23 August 1970 review published in The New York Times, John Toland wrote that the book "is not only the most significant personal German account to come out of the war but the most revealing document on the Hitler phenomenon yet written. A brick factory was built near the Oranienburg concentration camp at Speer's behest; when someone commented on the poor conditions there, Speer stated, "The Yids got used to making bricks while in Egyptian captivity". [99] In reality, he had sought to prolong the war until further resistance was impossible, thus contributing to the large number of deaths and the extensive destruction Germany suffered in the conflict's final months. Instead, development turned to a "uranium motor", for use in the navy's submarines. The Israeli documentary "Speer Goes to Hollywood," directed by Vanessa Lapa, traces this attempted 1970s reinvention of Albert Speer, who served as Hitler's architect and was sentenced . [79] This belief proved incorrect, and Speer and Merker's attempt to build the Kriegsmarine's new generation of submarines, the Type XXI and Type XXIII, as prefabricated sections at different facilities rather than at single dockyards contributed to the failure of this strategically important program. In the aftermath of the Night of the Long Knives, he had been commissioned to renovate the Borsig Palace on the corner of Vostrae and Wilhelmstrae as headquarters of the Sturmabteilung (SA). [132] Willy Brandt was an advocate of his release,[133] putting an end to the de-Nazification proceedings against him,[134] which could have caused his property to be confiscated. [34] Hitler ordered Speer to develop plans to rebuild Berlin. [130] Speer also read, studied architectural journals, and brushed up on English and French. This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjernes Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day. Speer (Albert Speer's brother) and his life. It is primarily based on the memoirs of Gertraud "Traudl" Junge ( Alexandra Maria Lara ), one of Hitler's secretaries, and is one of the most accurate portrayals of the last, desperate days of the Third Reich and its effects on the Fhrer, his closest aides, and ordinary Germans. He was acquitted on the other two counts. Speer, Albert (1905-81). Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer ( Mannheim, 19. oujka 1905. [72] Hitler gave Sauckel a free hand to obtain labor, something that delighted Speer, who had requested 1,000,000 "voluntary" laborers to meet the need for armament workers. The book also shows a photograph from 1943, of . Described by associates as ice cold. Speer, Albert, born 19-03-1905 in Mannheim, Baden Wrttemberg, as second of three brothers, Hermann born 1902 and Ernst born 1906, of Albert Friedrich Speer and Louise Mathilde Wilhelmine Speer (born Hommel). [137], Speer's release from prison was a worldwide media event. "[142] He supported Hermann, his brother, financially after the war. Albert Speer in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland", Francisco Boix identifies Speer at Nuremberg, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Speer&oldid=1139875005, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 08:56. [127], Much of Speer's energy was dedicated to keeping fit, both physically and mentally, during his long confinement. [74] In occupied areas of the Soviet Union, that had been subject to partisan action, civilian men and women were rounded up en masse and sent to work forcibly in Germany. He had walked more than 30,000 kilometres (19,000mi), ending his sentence near Guadalajara, Mexico. Albert Speer Jr. was born on July 29, 1934, one year after Hitler had consolidated power in Germany. Speer enthusiastically supported the program and in March 1942 made an order for A4 rockets, the predecessor of the world's first ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket. Beginning in 1948, Speer had the services of Toni Proost, a sympathetic Dutch orderly to smuggle mail and his writings. [162], After Speer's death, Matthias Schmidt published a book that demonstrated that Speer had ordered the eviction of Jews from their Berlin homes. Sereny decided to complete the book alone . When the commission was completed, Speer returned to Mannheim and remained there as Hitler took office in January1933. From 1939 on, Speer's Department used the Nuremberg Laws to evict Jewish tenants of non-Jewish landlords in Berlin, to make way for non-Jewish tenants displaced by redevelopment or bombing. They're private residences. [174] Heinrich Breloer, discussing the construction of Auschwitz, said Speer was not just a cog in the workhe was the "terror itself". 4.10 avg rating 13,205 ratings published 1969 86 editions. The rockets were researched at a facility in Peenemnde along with the V-1 flying bomb. This carried with it the rank of State Secretary in the Reich government and gave him extraordinary powers over the Berlin city government. [164] Even so, public perceptions of Speer did not change substantially until Heinrich Breloer aired a biographical film on TV in 2004. It began in 1932 but had not supplied any weaponry. [76], Following his appointment as Minister of Armaments, Speer was in control of armaments production solely for the Army. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, who became Minister of Armaments and War Production in World War II, died today at St. Mary's Hospital. [55] At the same time, Hitler also appointed Speer as head of the Organisation Todt, a massive, government-controlled construction company. The relationship will always amaze. This is followed by an epilogue dealing with the end of the war in Europe and the resulting Nuremberg trials, in which Speer was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for his actions during the war. He also cites the use of the V-2 as a terror weapon, rather than continued development of the ground-to-air defensive Waterfall rocket. Sauckel had whole villages in France, Holland and Belgium forcibly rounded up and shipped to Speer's factories. [49] Martin Kitchen described Speer's often repeated line that he knew nothing of the "dreadful things" as hollowbecause not only was he fully aware of the fate of the Jews he was actively participating in their persecution. [124], The prisoners were forbidden to write memoirs. [159], Speer had carefully constructed an image of himself as an apolitical technocrat who deeply regretted having failed to discover the monstrous crimes of the Third Reich. [131], Speer's supporters maintained calls for his release. If Speer, who had been so close to Hitler, had not known the full extent of the crimes of the Nazi regime and had just been "following orders", then they could tell themselves and others they too had done the same. Speer in response used his propaganda expertise to display a new dynamism of the war economy. [5], Following his release from Spandau, Speer donated the Chronicle, his personal diary, to the German Federal Archives. [73] Sauckel obtained new workers often using the most brutal methods. Albert Speer (Mannheim, Nmetorszg, 1905. mrcius 19. Most days he was invited to dinner. [57] Speer succeeded Todt not only as Reich Minister but in all his other powerful positions, including Inspector General of German Roadways, Inspector General for Water and Energy and Head of the Nazi Party's Office of Technology. Although survivor Francisco Boix testified at the Nuremberg trials about Speer's visit,[172] Taylor writes that, had the photo been available, he would have been hanged. "[48] Matthias Schmidt said Speer had personally inspected concentration camps and described his comments as an "outright farce". [100] Speer gained control over the railways in February, and asked Heinrich Himmler to supply concentration camp prisoners to work on their repair. He suffered a stroke and died in London on 1 September. [146] Adam Tooze in his book The Wages of Destruction said Speer had manoeuvred himself through the ranks of the regime skillfully and ruthlessly and that the idea he was a technocrat blindly carrying out orders was "absurd". Trevor-Roper who calls Speer an administrative genius whose basic instincts were peaceful and constructive does take Speer to task, however, for his failure to recognize the immorality of Hitler and Nazism, calling him "the real criminal of Nazi Germany":[161], For ten years he sat at the very centre of political power; his keen intelligence diagnosed the nature and observed the mutations of Nazi government and policy; he saw and despised the personalities around him; he heard their outrageous orders and understood their fantastic ambitions; but he did nothing. Despite his opposition to the 20 July plot, he falsely claimed in his memoirs to have been sympathetic to the plotters. [77] By July 1943, he had gained control of armaments production for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. [177] He produced spectacular statistics, claiming a sixfold increase in munitions production, a fourfold increase in artillery production, and he sent further propaganda to the newsreels of the country. Want to Read. In February 1942, Speer was appointed as Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. He was more forthright in an interview with William Hamsher in which he said he joined the party in order to save "Germany from Communism". [145], Speer's memoirs were a phenomenal success. Brother of Hermann Speer and Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer. [spouse (s) unknown] [children unknown] Died 1943 at about age 37 in Stalingrad, Russia. The oldest brother turned into a thorn in his youger brother His first draft was written from March 1953 to 26 December 1954. the atmosphere was said the best ever it was actually worded they I knew that these must be Berlin Jews who were being evacuated. Unsubstantiated rumors have claimed that the remains were used for other building projects such as the Humboldt University, Mohrenstrae metro station and Soviet war memorials in Berlin. Little remains of his personal architectural work. [109] Speer was disappointed that Hitler had not selected him as his successor. He had become one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany. Hosted by askropp and Frech. His claim was revealed to be false in a private correspondence written in 1971 and publicly disclosed in 2007. As a Nazi Party member, she had greatly enjoyed dining with Hitler. Speer liked the scenario so much that he wrote it into his memoirs. For the television film based on the book, see, :55,71,7879,83,105,115116,138,188,651,674,696, Sarah Word from the British film magazine ", Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inside_the_Third_Reich&oldid=1132240858, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 23:15. [170] Historian Martin Kitchen states that Speer was actually "fully aware of what had happened to the Jews" and was "intimately involved in the 'Final Solution'". I recommend this book without reservations. He remained so even after his release from imprisonment in 1966, despite their efforts to forge closer bonds. [125] He had completed his memoirs by November 1953, which became the basis of Inside the Third Reich. [12] In Munich Speer began a close friendship, ultimately spanning over 50 years, with Rudolf Wolters, who also studied under Tessenow. Speer-Weber, Magarete, born 08-09-1905 in Heidelberg, lived there all her live, they also had a house near Hitler's Berghof on the Obersalzberg and was a girlfriend of Eva Braun (see Braun parents) and a regular visitor on the Berghof of Berchtesgaden. "[118], Speer was credited with an "armaments miracle". This led to a significant German Army failure at the Battle of Prokhorovka, a major turning point on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Red Army. [91], The largest technological advance under Speer's command came through the rocket program. It was only on the urgent advice of his publisher that he added a mention of seeing the ruins of the Central Synagogue in Berlin from his car. I was searching for information about Ernst (?) [5] Wolters and longtime Speer secretary Annemarie Kempf, while not permitted direct communication with Speer in Spandau, did what they could to help his family and carry out the requests Speer put in letters to his wifethe only written communication he was officially allowed. [70], Speer realized that with six million workers drafted into the armed forces, there was a labor shortage in the war economy, and not enough workers for his factories. It is considered to be one of the most detailed descriptions of the inner workings and leadership of Nazi Germany but is controversial because of Speer's lack of discussion of Nazi . [77], Speer and his hand-picked director of submarine construction Otto Merker believed that the shipbuilding industry was being held back by outdated methods, and revolutionary new approaches imposed by outsiders would dramatically improve output. They paid for Toni Proost to go on holiday, and for bribes to those who might be able to secure Speer's release. [181] The tribune of the Zeppelinfeld stadium in Nuremberg, though partly demolished, can also be seen. For the record, Ernst Speer is discussed at p. 336 in Beevor's "Stalingrad" (Penguin 2007), The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section, Life in the Third Reich & Weimar Republic, Kriegsmarine surface ships and Kriegsmarine in general, Luftwaffe air units and Luftwaffe in general, German Strategy & General German Military Discussion, NSDAP, other party organizations & Government, The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section, The Ron Klages Panzer & other vehicles Section, Panzer & other vehicles - Photo threads, Axis Documents, Feldpost numbers, Postcards & Other Paper Items, The United Kingdom & its Empire and Commonwealth 1919-45, The Allies and the Neutral States in general, German Colonies and Overseas Expeditions, The end of the Ottoman Empire 1908-1923, Translation help: Breaking the Sound Barrier. After the disasters of the battle of Moscow (Operation Typhoon) and even after Stalingrad Germany manages to greatly increase its military production, even though the allies were launching a major bombing campaign against them. Among those who pledged support for his sentence to be commuted were Charles de Gaulle and US diplomat George Wildman Ball. [179], Little remains of Speer's personal architectural works, other than the plans and photographs. The battle is infamous as one of the largest . In 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin. [81], In response to the Allied Big Week, Adolf Hitler authorized the creation of a Fighter Staff committee. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The existing Berlin railroad termini were to be dismantled, and two large new stations built. He goes on to say that at the Nuremberg Trial he stated he "had to share the total responsibility for all that had happened", and that he "was inescapably contaminated morally". [173] In 2005, The Daily Telegraph reported that documents had surfaced indicating that Speer had approved the allocation of materials for the expansion of Auschwitz concentration camp after two of his assistants inspected the facility on a day when almost a thousand Jews were massacred. Figlio e nipote di architetti, Spee. It had been edited by Wolters and made no mention of the Jews. [44] The chancellery was completed in early January 1939. [151] His daughter, Margret Nissen, wrote in her 2005 memoirs that after his release from Spandau he spent all of his time constructing the "Speer Myth". Startseite; Cytologie. [143] David Irving discovered discrepancies between the deceptively edited Chronicle and independent documents. . Finally, in the summer of 1943, Speer released the 1200 metric tons of uranium stock for use in solid-core ammunition. His brothers names were Charles, Albert, Louis (Ludwig), and According to Speer's daughter Hilde Schramm, "One by one my sister and brothers gave up. It was used for Nazi propaganda rallies and can be seen in Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film Triumph of the Will. [83] His political rivals used the opportunity to undermine his authority and damage his reputation with Hitler. [95], Losses of territory and a dramatic expansion of the Allied strategic bombing campaign caused the collapse of the German economy from late 1944. [10] After passing his exams in 1927, Speer became Tessenow's assistant, a high honor for a man of 22. He has risen to the top of the . The task force was established by 1 March 1944, orders of Speer, with support from Erhard Milch of the Reich Aviation Ministry. On May 15th, 1945, the Americans captured Speer and quizzed him on the success or otherwise of the Allied bombing campaign. He took a role in that short-lived regime as Minister of Industry and Production. Speer arrived there the previous evening and accepted Todt's offer to fly with him to Berlin. The building was able to hold 340,000 people. [18], The organizers of the 1933 Nuremberg Rally asked Speer to submit designs for the rally, bringing him into contact with Hitler for the first time. The relationship was frowned upon by Speer's class-conscious mother, who felt the Webers were socially inferior. Speer believed his greatest work, the one that would truly stand the test of time was the Zeppelinfeld in Nrnberg, which held up to 340,000 people, and the Cathedral of Lights he orchestrated for nighttime Nazi rallies with 130 anti-aircraft searchlights placed around it. First Architect of the Third Reich. [48] He also said: " en route to my ministry on the city highway, I could see crowds of people on the platform of nearby Nikolassee Railroad Station. like so many other Germans his body was never found or returned to . [59] Speer proved to be ambitious, unrelenting and ruthless. Until 2 September 1943 the position's official name was Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions. [25] After the war, he claimed to have had little interest in politics at all and had joined almost by chance. Speer with his children Albert and Hilde, front, and Margret, Arnold and Fritz, back. [135] Speer's efforts for an early release came to naught. shelved 32,158 times. In her renowned biography, Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth, she describes her friend Schramm as "maybe the most moral person I have ever met". Many more buildings were planned. [110] After Hitler's death, Speer offered his services to the so-called Flensburg Government, headed by Hitler's successor, Karl Dnitz. 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