[81], In response to the Allied Big Week, Adolf Hitler authorized the creation of a Fighter Staff committee. [98] Nevertheless, Speer believed that Germany should continue the war for as long as possible with the goal of winning better conditions from the Allies than the unconditional surrender they insisted upon. Neither the organizers nor Rudolf Hess were willing to decide whether to approve the plans, and Hess sent Speer to Hitler's Munich apartment to seek his approval. This image dominated his historiography in the decades following the war, giving rise to the "Speer Myth": the perception of him as an apolitical technocrat responsible for revolutionizing the German war machine. [45] Kristallnacht accelerated Speer's ongoing efforts to dispossess Berlin's Jews from their homes. In February 1942, Speer was appointed as Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. An architect by training, Speer joined the Nazi Party in 1931. [147], Speer made himself widely available to historians and other enquirers. [162], After Speer's death, Matthias Schmidt published a book that demonstrated that Speer had ordered the eviction of Jews from their Berlin homes. [73] Sauckel obtained new workers often using the most brutal methods. Once Speer became aware of the existence of the fund, he sent detailed instructions about what to do with the money. Today: Still there. [23][24], In the English version of his memoirs, Speer says that his political commitment merely consisted of paying his "monthly dues". He coveted control of the production of armaments for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine as well. [177], The armaments "miracle" was a myth; Speer had used statistical manipulation to support his claims. [155] Speer was photographed with slave laborers at Mauthausen concentration camp during a visit on 31 March 1943; he also visited Gusen concentration camp. The journalist described an invented scenario in which Speer had refused Hitler's orders and Hitler had left with tears in his eyes. Inside the Third Reich (German: Erinnerungen, "Memories") is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Adolf Hitler's main architect before this period. Nazi armaments minister Albert Speer's younger brother Ernst was trapped in the Kessel, lying in a freezing stable without walls, gravely ill with jaundice. The public was fascinated by an inside view of the Third Reich and a major war criminal became a popular figure almost overnight. His sister's name was Carrie. [30] Nuremberg was the site of many official Nazi buildings. He had claimed that he was unaware of Nazi extermination plans, and the Allies had no proof that he was aware. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (/pr/; German: [pe] (listen); 19 March 1905 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. Summary: "Inside the Third Reich is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Adolf Hitler's main architect before this period. [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. FRANKFURT Albert Speer Jr., an internationally prominent architect who sought throughout his life to distance himself from the dark legacy of his father, a member of Adolf . The Battle of Stalingrad was a brutal military campaign between Russian forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers during World War II. [165] Trommer said he was not an apolitical technocrat; instead, he was one of the most powerful and unscrupulous leaders in the Nazi regime. One of Speer's grandfathers was among the most successful machine-tool manufacturers in Germany; the other was a well-known architect. A groundbreaking 26-part documentary series narrated by the actor Laurence Olivier about the deadliest conflict in history, World War II. [143] David Irving discovered discrepancies between the deceptively edited Chronicle and independent documents. 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. Ultimately, when their emergence involved the ruin of all his work, Speer accepted the consequences and acted. [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'". The large capital investment was not repaid in military effectiveness. FC Bayern Munich opens a new sports complex with a youth academy planned by AS+P. [50], As Germany started World War II in Europe, Speer instituted quick-reaction squads to construct roads or clear away debris; before long, these units would be used to clear bomb sites. 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. [12] In Munich Speer began a close friendship, ultimately spanning over 50 years, with Rudolf Wolters, who also studied under Tessenow. They paid for Toni Proost to go on holiday, and for bribes to those who might be able to secure Speer's release. [90] By this time, 140,000 people were working in Speer's underground factories. [32], On 30 January 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital. [77] By July 1943, he had gained control of armaments production for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. [87], The Fighter Staff committee was instrumental in bringing about the increased exploitation of slave labor in the war economy. While he sought to frustrate directives to destroy industrial facilities in areas at risk of capture, so that they could be used after the war, he still supported the war's continuation. He was able to curtail the discussion that the war should be ended. After August 1944, oil from the Romanian fields was no longer available. Stalingrad was a classic example where he refused to provide the equipment necessary to supply his army on the Eastern front during the terrible winter of 1941. [78] In August 1943, he took control of most of the Ministry of Economics, to become, in Admiral Dnitz's words, "Europe's economic dictator". Before that, Speer worked as the chief architect in Hitler's Nazi . His claim was revealed to be false in a private correspondence written in 1971 and publicly disclosed in 2007. Detailed plans were completed in July 1937 and the first shell of the new chancellery was complete on 1 January 1938. [120], On 18 July 1947, Speer was transferred to Spandau Prison in Berlin to serve his prison term. [155] In addition to the myth that he was an apolitical technocrat, he claimed he did not have full knowledge of the Holocaust or the persecution of the Jews. [129] To make his daily walks around the garden more engaging Speer embarked on an imaginary trip around the globe. Carefully measuring distance travelled each day, he mapped distances to the real-world geography. letters that exist between ernst and the parents which he wrote and Speer, Albert (1905-81). [6] He followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and studied architecture. [29] Speer insisted that as many events as possible be held at night, both to give greater prominence to his lighting effects and to hide the overweight Nazis. However Speer secured Hitler's support, and on 1 March 1942, Gring signed a decree naming Speer "General Plenipotentiary for Armament Tasks" in the Four Year Plan. [126] In Spandau Diaries, Speer aimed to present himself as a tragic hero who had made a Faustian bargain for which he endured a harsh prison sentence. [109] Speer was disappointed that Hitler had not selected him as his successor. Speer was to be replaced by his subordinate, Karl-Otto Saur. Speer cancelled some hours before take-off because the previous night he had been up late in a meeting with Hitler. [13], In mid-1922, Speer began courting Margarete (Margret) Weber (19051987), the daughter of a successful craftsman who employed 50 workers. body was never found or returned to the family and there are some Like many of those in power in the Third Reich, he was not an ideologue, "nor was he anything more than an instinctive anti-Semite. Having served his full term, Speer was released in 1966. [69], As head of Organisation Todt, Speer was directly involved in the construction and alteration of concentration camps. Speer has paid his penance for his part of the inner circle and had come to the realization of Germany's reality during WWII. The Speer houses are on the right side. [88] The SS provided 64,000 prisoners for 20 separate projects from various concentration camps including Mittelbau-Dora. by PanzerKavallerie 27 Jul 2005, 07:49, Post Ignored his parents' request to use his position to bring home his brother from Stalingrad. Albert was active in sports, taking up skiing and mountaineering. Po vlce byl bhem Norimberskho procesu odsouzen jako vlen zloinec ke 20 letm vzen. Speer II is more than an urban planner. Before World War II, Speer helped propel the Nazi vision of grandeur and superiority. Sereny decided to complete the book alone . [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. If built, the German Stadium would have accommodated 400,000 spectators. Speer's mother asked Albert to do something to get Ernst out. Fun facts: before fame, family life, popularity rankings, and more. (Black and white photographs from Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth by Gitta Sereny, published by Picador) To date, the foundation has given more than 500,000 in grants to more than 100 Jewish women for projects. Until 2 September 1943 the position's official name was Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions. Speer was loyal to Hitler, and his experience building prisoner of war camps and other structures for the military qualified him for the job. First Architect of the Third Reich. Efforts were made and a search of Ernst's unit ended in failure. Inventing for Speer the post of General Inspector of Buildings, Hitler steadily promoted him to the point where other Nazi leaders and rivals believed that he might well become Hitler's successor. [40] Speer was involved virtually from the beginning. [46] Eventually, 75,000 Jews were displaced by these measures. Speer, Jr., an eighty-two-year-old with a perennially serious expression and a fondness for energetic hand motions, is one of Germany's best-known urban planners. [124], The prisoners were forbidden to write memoirs. bio je arhitekt i ministar naoruanja u nacistikoj Njemakoj. [1]:488498,569, Speer's involvement with concentration camp prisoners as a work force came about when Hitler agreed to Himmler's proposal they be used for the secret V-2 project. Three days later, he also proposed to Hitler that Germany's remaining military resources be concentrated along the Rhine and Vistula rivers in an attempt to prolong the fighting. [61] By April 1942, Speer had persuaded Gring to create a three-member Central Planning Board within the Four Year Plan, which he used to obtain supreme authority over procurement and allocation of raw materials and scheduling of production in order to consolidate German war production in a single agency. William. Stars Laurence Olivier Averell Harriman Albert Speer See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist 120 User reviews 5 Critic reviews Top rated TV #14 [145], Speer's memoirs were a phenomenal success. [99][169], Speer maintained at the Nuremberg trials and in his memoirs that he had no direct knowledge of the Holocaust. Despite his opposition to the 20 July plot, he falsely claimed in his memoirs to have been sympathetic to the plotters. Albert Speer. [167] Brechtken wrote that his most brazen lie was fabricated during an interview with a French journalist in 1952. Adam Tooze wrote in The Wages of Destruction that the idea that Speer was an apolitical technocrat was "absurd". Sauckel had whole villages in France, Holland and Belgium forcibly rounded up and shipped to Speer's factories. [8] In 1924, when the crisis had abated, he transferred to the "much more reputable" Technical University of Munich. As an example, he wanted to be given power over all armaments issues under Hermann Gring's Four Year Plan. Beginning in 1948, Speer had the services of Toni Proost, a sympathetic Dutch orderly to smuggle mail and his writings. After his release on 1 October 1966, he used Federal Archive documents to rework the material into his autobiography. A lbert Speer was born in 1905 in Mannheim to an upper-middle-class family that had benefited from Germany's meteoric economic growth. According to Speer's daughter Hilde Schramm, "One by one my sister and brothers gave up. [38] The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the postponement, and later the abandonment, of these plans. This article is about the book. [102][103] Hitler rejected Speer's proposal to cease demolitions. "[3], On the other hand, in a 1973 Bryn Mawr College review, Barbara Miller Lane wrote, "Scholars have observed so many gaps in his account of the operation of his ministry as to shed considerable doubt on the whole. Through his autobiographies and interviews, Speer carefully constructed an image of himself as a man who deeply regretted having failed to discover the monstrous crimes of the Third Reich. 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. [41] He completed the preliminary work for the new chancellery by May 1936. Entrance to Spandau Prison, 1951. ", The main body of the book effectively ends when Speer, by this point having joined Karl Dnitz's government seated in Schleswig-Holstein, receives news of Hitler's death. August 1, 2017. He lost yet more authority. Reporters and photographers crowded both the street outside Spandau and the lobby of the Hotel Berlin where Speer spent the night. Founded in 1999. Despite this opposition, the two married in Berlin on 28 August 1928; seven years elapsed before Margarete was invited to stay at her in-laws' home. By the autumn of 1942 however, the estimated period for developing a weapon had increased to three to four years, much too long to affect the war. I am sure that an oppressive feeling struck me as I drove past. He was charged with planning for war, planning a war of aggression, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. He was credited with a dramatic increase in the shipment of arms that was widely reported as keeping Germany in the war. 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. Thanks! He studied under Bestelmeyer, Billing, and Tessenow, and rose to prominence on the death of Troost, becoming Adolf Hitler's (1889-1945) friend, confidant, and architect from 1934.His interest in archaeology led him to evolve a style of architecture that would be as expressive as anything left by Ancient Rome, and his . [20], Shortly after Hitler came into power, he began to make plans to rebuild the chancellery. [177] The rational position to adopt was to seek a political solution that would end the war without defeat. [7], Speer began his architectural studies at the University of Karlsruhe instead of a more highly acclaimed institution because the hyperinflation crisis of 1923 limited his parents' income. Among those who pledged support for his sentence to be commuted were Charles de Gaulle and US diplomat George Wildman Ball. The battle is infamous as one of the largest . Finally, in the summer of 1943, Speer released the 1200 metric tons of uranium stock for use in solid-core ammunition. [158] Kitchen said he had deceived the Nuremberg Tribunal and post-war Germany. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer ( Mannheim, 19. oujka 1905. [154] In his memoirs and interviews, he had distorted the truth and made so many major omissions that his lies became known as "myths". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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