Albert Speer
Speer's release from prison in 1966 was a worldwide media event. Abandoning plans to return to architecture (two proposed partners died shortly before his release) he then revised and published two autobiographical books based on the diary entries he had made in prison as well as a third about the SS, which was less well-received. His books, most notably Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: The Secret Diaries, provide a unique and personal look into the personalities of the Nazi era, and have become much valued by historians. Speer was aided in shaping the works by Joachim Fest and Wolf-Jobst Siedler from the publishing house Ullstein.[7] Speer died of a cerebral hemorrhage in London, England, on September 1, 1981.
Speer himself appeared in the ITV television series The World at War which was first broadcast in 1973. Speer appeared in a number of episodes including the 12th episode entitled "Whirlwind", in which he admitted that he regarded the bombing of Germany by the RAF's Bomber Command as a second front. In a number of the other episodes he spoke at length of his relationship with Hitler and how he became Minister of War Armaments Production after Fritz Todt was killed in a plane crash. Speer revealed that he was meant to have been on the plane along with Todt, and was informed half an hour after the news was given to Hitler he was summoned to Hitler to take on all of Todt's offices.
He also revealed that, unlike most of the senior OKW commanders and Reichministers, he had direct access to Hitler. He stated that he was not told exactly what was going on in the death camps, but was told by a Gauleiter that terrible things were occurring. He also contributed to Dudley Saward's official biography of Bomber Harris the Commander of Bomber Command by giving interviews and access to his files which demonstrated the effects of the bombing on manufacturing and on how artillery pieces were directed to air defence and not to the Eastern Front.
Speer's daughter Hilde (married Schramm) became a noted left-wing parliamentarian. Speer's eldest son, Albert, became a successful architect in his own right. Second daughter Margarete (married Nissen) became a photographer and Arnold, Speer's second youngest son became a community doctor.
[
Bibliography
- Speer, Albert (1970). Inside the Third Reich. New York and Toronto: Macmillan. [Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston.] Republished in paperback in 1997 by Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-82949-5.
- Speer, Albert (1976). Spandau: The Secret Diaries. New York and Toronto: Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-699501-8. [Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston.]
- Speer, Albert (1981). Infiltration: How Heinrich Himmler Schemed to Build an SS Industrial Empire. Macmillan. ISBN 0-02-612800-4.
- Speer, Albert, et al (1995). Architektur. Arbeiten 1933-1942. Propyläen. ISBN 3-549-05446-7.
[
Biographies
- Joachim Fest, Ewald Osers (translator), Alexandra Dring (2002). Speer: The Final Verdict. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100556-7.
- van der Vat, Dan (1997). The Good Nazi: The Life and Lies of Albert Speer. George Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-81721-3.
- King, Henry T. (1997). The Two Worlds of Albert Speer: Reflections of a Nuremberg Prosecutor. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0761808725.
- Sereny, Gitta (1995). Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52915-4.
- Schmidt, Matthias (1984). Albert Speer: The End of a Myth. St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-01709-X.
[
Portrayal in the media
Albert Speer has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theater productions.[8]
- Erland Erlandsen in the 1955 West German film Der Letzte Akt (Hitler: The Last Ten Days)
- Michael Lees in the 1973 British television production The Death of Adolf Hitler
- Richard Jordan in the 1981 United States television production The Bunker
- Rutger Hauer in the 1982 United States television production Inside the Third Reich
- Geoffrey Whitehead in the 1988 United States T.V. series War and Remembrance
- David Gwillim in the 1997 British short film The Architect.
- Herbert Knaup in the 2000 Canadian/U.S. T.V. production Nuremberg
- Alex Jennings in the 2000 British theater production Albert Speer.[9]
- Heino Ferch in the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang)
- Sebastian Koch in the 2005 German T.V. miniseries Speer und er
- Nathaniel Parker in the 2006 British/U.S. television production Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
- Stefan Kurt in the 2007 German satire Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler
- Manfred-Anton Algrang in the 2009 United States film Valkyrie
[
See also
- Inside the Third Reich
- List of Adolf Hitler books
- Nazi architecture
- Speer und Er (docudrama and documentary)
[
References
- ^ The title of a BBC2 documentary.
- ^ Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5, Page 9
- ^ Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5, Page 10
- ^ Kate Connolly, "Wartime reports debunk Speer as the good Nazi," The Daily Telegraph, May 11, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
- ^ Letter proves Speer knew of Holocaust plan | World news | The Guardian
- ^ Fishman, Jack (1986). Long Knives and Short Memories: The Spandau Prison Story. Breakwater Books, pg 129. ISBN 0-920911-00-5.
- ^ Siedler, Wolf Jobst Wir waren noch einmal davongekommen, Siedler, 2004
- ^ Albert Speer (Character) (English). IMDb.com. Retrieved on May 8, 2008.
- ^ Albert Speer (English). National Theatre. Retrieved on May 8, 2008.
- Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
- Albert Speer's New Reich Chancellary - a documentation
- BBC - BBC Four - Audio Interviews - Albert Speer
- A tribute to Speer's architecture
- Testimony of Albert Speer at us-israel.org
- (German) Speer und Er German docudrama broadcast in May 2005, presenting allegations regarding Speer's role, e.g. in the construction of Auschwitz.
- 3d animated Reich Chancellery
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Speer, Albert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Speer, Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert (full name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | German architect and minister for armaments |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 19, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mannheim, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 1, 1981 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | London, England |
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.