The bottom line for anyone reading about the subject Speer is that he has convinced himself of his innocence by an intelligent phsycological re-construction of events.

He always knew and was aware of what was happening...period. But a facinating individual he was nevertheless. Detached and aloof he twisted the truth in one of the worlds great pieces of fabrication.

Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and minister of armaments, is a fascinating figure. This book examines his inner struggle with personal responsibility for crimes of the 3rd Reich. Should be read with Gitta Sereny's "Albert Speer His Battle with Truth." Miriam Pollard has written a wonderful book.

To say that Albert Speer "repented" is to insult the entire concept. I believe it is possible that a person as evil as Speer could repent. I just don't believe that Speer ever really did - he did what he had to do to save his own hide. To raise Speer to the level of some sort of icon is ludicrous.

Henry King was actually there. As a young man, he volunteered to be a prosecutor at the most important trial ever held. While in Nuremberg, he became fascinated with the one defendant who provoked reluctant admiration due to his aristocratic bearing and obvious intelligence. This fascination has continued throughout King's life. Now nearing 80, King is one of the few prosecutors still living and coherent. His memories and impressions offer an in-depth, close-up view of one of history's most important events.

SPEER REVIEW

by

T.S. Peric'

"I knew Albert Speer better than any American," said Henry King during an interview, at 26-years-old, the youngest prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials and the author of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer: Reflections of a Nuremberg Prosecutor" (University Press of America). It was not a comment filled with braggadocio. In 1946, fallow and a few years out of Yale Law School, King dreamt the dreams of many young men: accomplish a great deed or participate in a grand undertaking. Hearing about a friend's appointment to the American "team" at Nuremberg, King immediately applied for a position. Within a few months, he arrived at Nuremberg in the middle of a rainstorm and soon found himself collecting evidence against Erhard Milch, deputy chief of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), who was charged with participating in Nazi slave labor and human experiment programs. King also interviewed Reichsmarshall and Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Keitel, the chief of staff of Germany's military high command. But frozen in King's memory were the interviews with Speer in a bleak interrogation room. "Speer was remarkably composed and unshaken; he seemed to possess an inner security and objectivity that many of the others lacked," King recalls. His composure was all the more remarkable because of the unique and key role he played in the Third Reich. "From 1942 to 1945 not only was he one of the men closest to Hitler, but he was also one who influenced Hitler's decisions. At one time in late 1943, Speer was reputed to be Hitler's heir apparent." Speer was unemotional, analytical, almost regal in his deportment. And unlike the other 20 defendants, he accepted full responsibility for his actions. "The question that haunted me then and still does today was why Speer, who appeared so decent and honest, was a close collaborator of Hitler," King writes. "Why had he served such a monster." Nearly half a century would intervene before King could offer any answers. Speer spent the next 20 years locked away in Spandau prison (kept incommunicado except to his attorney and family). After his release, he became a best-selling author with "Inside the Third Reich" (1970) a personal look into the sanctum sanctorum of the Nazi leadership and "Spandau: The Secret Diaries" (1976) which described his imprisonment. King continued practicing law, including a stint as general counsel to the U.S. Foreign Economic Aid Program, moving to the private sector and eventually settling in as a professor of international law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. In 1966, King reestablished contact with Speer, but was unable to pursue his goal of a book until his retirement from TRW where he served as general counsel of Automotive Operations. King interviewed Speer repeatedly (including Speer's last interview, one month before his death in 1981). He consulted the Nuremberg records, his own notes and the literature on Speer and the Nazis. He also interviewed Speer's daughter and Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary, who observed the interaction between Hitler and Speer. King's book carefully plots the conditions and events in Speer's life that drew the architect toward the summit of Nazi power. Speer was politically naïve, despite his aristocratic background, growing up in a cold, emotionless family, where intellectual prowess was demanded and ambition expected. Introduced to the Nazis at Berlin's Institute of Technology, Speer fell victim - as did millions of Germans -- to the zeitgeist of Nazi Germany before the war, a time when the promise of a new Reich seemed to represent an unfettered, glorious future. Speer's ability to organize was quickly recognized, reaching new heights at the Nuremberg rallies. His Pantheon-like "Cathedral of Lights," established Speer's chilling brilliance for displaying raw power. The final, crowning jewel, that firmly enthroned Speer to the Nazis fold was his artistic talent which brought him within handshaking distance of Adolph Hitler. Now, Hitler, the failed Viennese artist, would live vicariously through Speer's artistic triumphs. The Nazis' world was Albert Speer's first world, according to King. It was among the Nazis that Speer performed with remarkable thoroughness and unquestioned devotion, rising to the position of the Third Reich's Architect and Minister of Armament Production. Indeed, if Speer's artistic triumphs contributed to the physical manifestation of how the Nazi's viewed themselves, his star as Armament Minister shone even brighter. Experts estimate that Speer's contribution to industrial production lengthened the war by at least two years. Despite Speer's success, he began to enter his "second world," according to King, even before Germany's surrender. Speer was the only top Nazi to act in defiance of Hitler-and did so openly. He refused to carry out Hitler's "scorched earth policy" that would destroy the remains of German industry. Speer's second world is "where his horizon broadened and his values changed," writes King. "The second and succeeding world of Albert Speer was the horizontal world of the questioning spirit. This was a world of ethical and cultural values, a humanistic world . . . " In "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer," King deftly presents how naiveté, seduction and ambition drove Speer to the pinnacle of Nazi power. He concludes that Speer was clearly unique among the top Nazis that survived the war. Speer accepted responsibility for his actions and offered mea culpas for his sins. During and after his imprisonment, Speer pondered his actions and began to search for some degree of redemption until the end of his life. While supporting the prison sentence Speer received, King ably demonstrates that Speer was not some cardboard character from the Nazi past. Rather, he was a complex and brilliant individual who confronted issues of good and evil on a scale that most of us cannot imagine. King succeeded in his search for a great undertaking with his successful role in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg. More than one half century later, he succeeds with another marvelous undertaking: the writing of "The Two Worlds of Albert Speer."

If you want to know about Hitler, read a Hitler book. If you are just a war buff, read a war book.

This is the life and loves of Albert Speer. It does give us an insight as to what it was to live in HIS time and place. This shows that with the right attitude and a willingness to learn that you can go far. He was able to find unique solutions to common problems. No telling what we could have gained from his insight, if he had been able to contribute more than his memoirs. The fact that he produced this book is a miracle in its self. Look at what he could do with a simple thing like searchlights. He would have been great with lasers. If you want to know more about other people and not just the mysterious Adolf, then your next book should be "The Arms Of Krupp 1587-1968" by William Manchester

Speer is an intriguing personage in the Nazi hierarchy: was he really the only "good Nazi", as he was called, or merely a master manipulator? I read his "Inside the Third Reich" many years ago and found him to be unafraid of his history in Hitler's cabinet. Although "Inside" was published before "Spandau", the diaries had to be written before he could write "Inside". Speer struggles mightily trying to comprehend his role in Hitler's agenda and subsequent responsibility for its actions. This alone is interest enough, however, Speer's anecdotes about life with his fellow inmates, first at Nuremburg, then at Spandau, give a different view of such historical figures as Goring and Donitz. Speer even manages to humanize the odd and remote Rudolph Hess. Alone of the men convicted at Nuremburg, Speer sought and accepted personal accountability. His writing provides a deeply introspective view of how ordinary men are caught up in extraordinary circumstances. That he sought to understand this in himself was his redemption. The casual reader will enjoy the book for its human insights, however, some passing familiarity with WWII, Hitler, and European politics will add depth to the reader's experience. Speer may have longed for an abiding fame as an architect, but I believe he has built something much more lasting and significant with this work than he could have imagined.

'Spandau: The Secret Diaries' is the record of Albert Speer's twenty years in the Berlin prison and is just as compelling as Speer's earlier work, 'Inside the Third Reich.' While serving his sentance Speer tells us of the endless discussions and thoughts about Hitler, Nazi Germany, and failed military strategies that he and his fellow inmates shared. Speer also tells us of the day to day boredom that was his constant companion. His insights into Hitler are perhaps the greatest ever produced and the portraits he paints of Doenitz, Raeder, von Shirach and Rudolf Hess provide wonderful glimpses into that troubled time. Perhaps most compelling of all is Speer's moral struggle with his own conscience; can a man who was part of such evil truly ever make amends? Speer relates that his daughter was invited by a Jewish family to stay with them while she visited America. To this, Speer could only cry; hoping that at least to some extent forgiveness is possible. Much more than history, this is a powerful look at one man's search for redemption.

Albert Speer was for some strange reason a very extraordinary character.
First of all he was the Third Reich's Architect, and one of Hitler's closest friends and during the last years of WWII he was also Minister for arms and munitions. At the "Nuremberg Judgement" he was sentenced to 20 years in Prison.

In his "Secret Diaries", Speer tries to make clear, how a well educated intellectual like him could have been caught by such a totalitarian system and got mesmerized by it. His entries are primarily his way of coming to terms with his past.
Describing several key elements from his time in office, Speer tries to find out how much his character has been influenced and far he has been manipulated.
Speer gets sentimental from time to time, but he tries to remain objective and level-headed and never falls into self-pity or lachrymose and most important, Speer sees and accepts himself as the war criminal he was.

From a historical point of view, Speer's portraying of his fellow prisoners (Hess, Doenitz, Neurath, Raeder and von Schirach) are those of great significance and fascinating to read, and his portaying of Adolf Hitler is surely one of the most precise and immediate analyse of the dictator's nature.

Of course I'm not sure how much these diaries were subsequently altered and/or changed, and it's possible that they were ! One must always keep that in mind ! But in terms of history these diaries are very valuable and of great importance.

The notable German writer Carl Zuckmayer once said about Speer's diaries: "A great book in some respects: In the human attitude of the convict, in the firmness of his discipline and in the unusual way of his expression which is both thoughtful and sincere."

"The Secret Diaries" is a controversial but utterly important book and a must read for everyone who is interested in history, and in addition to that, Speer's book is also a gripping study in existentialism.

Gitta Sereny's monumental work 'Abert Speer: His Battle with Truth,' is a book of major importance about a man and an era that the world must never forget. Albert Speer, first Hitler's architect and later his Minister for Armaments and War Production, will remain forever an enigma. Did he know about the Holocaust? To what extent was his involvment? Should he have been hanged at Nuremburg? Was his apologetic manner in later years sincere? These are the questions that Sereny asks and attempts to answer, often arriving at conclusions that make even the reader uncomfortable, forcing him or her to realize that the Nazi system, at the time, could have held as much appeal for them as it did for Speer and for all of Germany. Sereny's intervews with Speer, her numerous interviews, and her exhaustive research all contribute to this masterful book. Of particular interest are the people whose lives were affected most by the madess of Hitler. Sereny's talks with the son of Martin Bormann are both chilling and incredibly moving. I do feel as though this book, along with Speer's own works, 'Inside the Third Reich,' and 'Spandau: the Secret Diaries,' (his thrid book, 'Infiltrator,' is one to be missed,) are essential reading for any serious student of Nazi Germany.

Gitta Sereny is not only a prodigious researcher, she also writes beautifully. This is an amazing book, the product of years of interviews with Speer, who heretofore had been regarded as a sort of "good Nazi." Sereny exposes the truth: that he knew about Nazi genocide and was the mastermind behind German's brutal slave labor between 1941-45.

Sereny beautifully weaves her story, throwing in wonderful ancillary observations about the Nazi hierarchy. She includes Speer's disingenuous criticisms of Hitler (whom he actually worshipped), as well as his opinions on Goering, Goebbels and Hitler's other minions.

Sereny includes details of Speer's love affair late in life with a much-younger blonde woman and the dumping of his long-suffering wife after 50 years of marriage.

Most important was Speer's assiduous and desperate attempt to disguise the fact that he knew about Auschwitz and successfully (until Sereny) hid it from the world.

Sereny deserved the Pulitzer for this book. Read it and you won't be able to put it down.

This book, along with Sereny's earlier "Into That Darkness," about Treblinka Commandant Franz Stangl, constitutes some of the most complex treatment of the Nazi genocide. Sereny relentlessly avoids oversimplification, and clearly attempts to come to terms with the character and the heart of Albert Speer. Many of the people she interviewed for the book were former Nazis, and Sereny always candidly describes her reaction to them now. Some seem to have genuinely repented, others leave her feeling quite uneasy. In the case of those who still seem to harbor many Nazi sentiments (particularly antisemitism) she generally lets their words speak for themselves. Though it is clear she is sympathetic to Speer (she admits as much in the first line of the book), she calls Speer on every contradiction, and does not simply accept his version of events. In the end, the reader is left to make up his own mind about Speer. I found this book to be simply overwhelming. It challenges the reader to get beyond simple emotional reactions to Nazi history and instead to delve into some of the most challenging questions about that era.

Albert Speer had circumstances in which no author would ever imagine himself: a 20 year sentence in a former concentration camp to write his recollections of his career in Hitler's Germany. This book serves as a cautionary tale of what can (and did) happen when people succumb to dazzling propaganda and forceful leaders. It also describes one man's disastrous personal deal with the devil.

Speer's interest in architecture is evident throughout this dense book, and those who don't share his fascination may find these passages tedious. But overall, the book gives a unique look at the inner workings of the Nazi regime and its notorious leaders, as well as insight into Speer's compromise with principles.

Speer details the obsession Hitler had with remaking Berlin (and subsequently, Germany and beyond) into an ostentatious showplace of power and grandeur. Hitler delighted in the models of government buildings, boulevards and a colossal dome that was to hold hundreds of thousands of spectators and strike the viewer with awe.

Indeed, much of what Speer ended up creating for Hitler utterly lacked soul and a place for the common man. All the grand plans and sumptuous buildings negated Man's significance: only the Party meant anything. Speer discovers, years into his career, that the Nazis had contrived to install talented functionaries in service of the Reich, each doing his job but unaware of the others and their responsibilities. It was to be a society of compartmentalized citizens where the oft-mocked phrase "I was only following orders" becomes the sickening watchword for mass murder and destruction.

Speer was drawn to Hitler's schemes through personal attraction: here was the man to hitch his professional star to. Speer acknowledges that he made a deal with evil and never listened to the nagging doubts during the hectic, heady years of Reich-building. He writes that after signing up with the Nazis, he assumed the more unsavory parts of their agenda (anti-Semitism, brute force and political intimidation) were merely growing pains and would be jettisoned once they gained national power. What ensued were years of complicity and compromise that Speer admits was part of the worst crimes against humanity.

I kept wondering as I read: what would have happened to Speer had he not sought such mentors and benefactors as the Nazis? Would his talent as an architect flourish despite the evils of his time? Did he bristle at the ever larger building schemes and grandiose plans that Hitler devised, making a mockery of true professional discipline? Here is a man who essentially threw his life away - first with the biggest bunch of criminals in history, then in isolated imprisonment in Spandau. This is more than a book about where one's decisions lead in life; it is about how good can be tainted by evil if the price is right. Speer cautions future generations against following demagogues and against the hollow promises of technology. Apparently, the world has yet to fully learn from his example.

I read with great interest Albert Speer's book "Inside the 3rd Reich". I believe that everybody interested in modern history should read about Hitler's Germany, and this book gives an intimate insider's view of the Inner Circle around the 'Fuehrer'. But is it sincere? Just how captivating Speer's elaborately woven net of deception and self-deception, of partial admission of 'collective' guilt (and thus personal absolvation) is I experienced myself when reading "Inside the 3rd Reich". In particular when Speer describes his last visit in the 'Fuehrerbunker' and claims to have confessed his late opossition to Hitler's 'Scorched Earth' strategy, and when he writes about the 'fit of weeping' that came over him after he realized the extent of destruction in Europe in the days after Hitler's death, one almost believes him that he 'didn't know' anything, just did his duty as any good German for the war effort, and that his devotion to Hitler had blinded him against the inmesurable crime he helped to perpetrate. Thus, almost from the first line on, Speer sets out to spring an elaborate trap, carefully, subtly - a trap for the reader, almost inescapable. At the end of the book, the reader has fallen prey, to the illusion that Speer was basically a 'good guy', not really a 'Nazi' at all, and in fact wanted to even assasinate Hitler in the end. In reality, Speer was even worse than Himmler, Bormann, Ley, Goering and the others, since in his case one cannot excuse his participation in the Nazi nightmare with the lack of intelligence. On the contrary: Speer was THE intellectual in this circle, rivalled only by Goebbels, yet Speer not a fanatic, but even worse - a technocrat in a void of morality, with the only selfish aim of advancing himself, of gathering power, maybe succeeding Hitler? Speer wanted success, success at any price. And this is Speer, dangerously intelligent, incredibly selfish, who set out to narrate "his" story, in which he appears to admit guilt but in fact absolves himself from responsibility. The aim? Success, again. And he got it. This book, a masterful piece of deception, dramaturgically remastering history (Speer's suicidal confession to Hitler never took place, for example) became THE best seller after WW II! As Speer said about Hitler once: You hardly recognize the devil when he puts his hand on your shoulder. True, indeed! Yet, the devil comes in many forms - and it appears that occasionally - he writes a book! Yours Sincerely, Imre Berger, PhD Dept. of Biology, MIT iberger@rich.mit.edu on "Inside the 3rd Reich" (Erinnerungen, by A. Speer)

I had seen the movie version of "Inside the Third Reich" many times before I read the book so I thought I knew what to expect. I should not have been surprised that I found the book even more compelling than the movie (which BTW was very well done!).

Albert Speer was one of the small group of Hitler's paladins who was present from his early days until the end. With a seemingly average architectural career in front of him a young Speer is captivated by the Fuhrer during the early "days of struggle" (of the Nazi party) after Hitler's release from Landsberg prison. His awe of Hitler as a speaker and magnetic personality, and Hitler's longing to be an "artist" brought the two together and a mutual respect and friendship grew from these likes. According to Speer's accounts his only real contact with Hitler on a professional level in the early years (even through the first years of the war) was related to architecture. Speer was commissioned for several party and later state projects - this despite Prof.Todt and his organization being the chosen "party" architects. When Todt was killed in a plane crash, Speer filled the void. He and Hitler planned to rebuild Berlin (as Germania) as the seat of power in all of Europe (and the world?) in grand fashion. Many of Hitler's own personal drawings for structures, such as a great arch to dwarf the Arch de Truimphe, survived the war in Speer's possession and are presented in the book. These tidbits of "artisan" sidelines are a fascinating piece of history not found elsewhere. One sees another side of Adolf Hitler - one that however still retains his now expected megalomania. As the war progressed and Speer's connections with Hitler were strengthened he attained greater stature and eventually became the Minister of Armaments. In this capacity Speer really found his calling. Many books have touched on the genius that was Speer's in terms of war production. Under Speer's reign, despite the western allies and Russian's closing in from either side and continual air bombardment, war production continued to increase right up to the last couple of months of the war. This is an amazing testament to Speer and his thoroughly Germanic approach to production. It however required slave labor on the backs of hundreds of thousands from the "Minderwertigen" (inferior races), which the Nazi movement looked to erase (and tried very hard to do) from existence. While Speer is one of the few Nazi's who stated that ALL Germans were responsible for the war and it's atrocities - he has often been called the "Good Nazi" (sarcastically) for his statements - he does not really ooze remorse for his slave labor program, which kept the war moving and continued to cause the deaths of so many. He does however make a strong point in these memoirs to give the reader the clear impression that he did everything he could at the end - when he apparently came to his better senses - to end the war and its associated suffering. These claims, from most accounts, seem to be merited. Yet many in the Nazi regime had changes of heart as the walls closed in so we should not have expected anything less from someone of Speer's intelligence.

All in all this book as a really good read with plenty of material not found elsewhere (unless rehashed from Speer's works themselves) to chew on. Whether Speer was a "Good Nazi" or not is not a judgment I would make. I do however feel that he left a Good account of the rise and fall of the Nazi movement and provides plenty of insight into the inner workings of Hitler's power elite. This book should adorn all bookshelves of serious WWII history students.

Matthias Schmidt, an associate professor at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institute for Historical Research, worked for four years to end the myth of Albert Speer. He acquired quite a lot of information. He has more notes and bibliographies than he has book.

So read the book. Does he do it?

His next target is Heinrich Heimmler

Being that I've read the books written by Albert Speer, it was only fitting that I sought one out that was written about him, not by him. What I found was this book at my local library.

Schmidt sets out to tell why Speer was sentenced to 20 years at Spandau, regardless of what was said of his solid character after the Nuremburg trials. Although he admitted his guilt, Schmidt tells of how (with copies of actual paperwork signed by Speer) Speer collaborated with notorious so called enemies of his like Himmler on evacuation measures for Jewish housing and forced labor policies in conquered countries. Also, Schmidt covers topics of how Speer's story changed often after he was released from Spandau and even his bolstering of his assassination plans for Hitler to be carried out by himself.

What Schmidt accomplishes best in this book is once you finish, you cannot figure how Speer got off so easily. He was very lucky not to get life or even death by hanging. I highly reccomend this book to people interested in this subject, but it is very advanced in terms of reading, thus good knowledge of the Third Reich is needed to fully understand this book.

Albert Speer's autobiography "Inside the Third Reich" is one of the most popular books ever published about Nazi Germany. It leaves its readers with a positive image of if not admiration for Speer. Schmidt's book, on the other hand, challenges this view and gives good arguments with plenty of evidence for support. Only by reading these two books together can one get a balanced view of Speer. Schmidt's book is a brave attempt calling for the quest of truth.

Although I have little interest in or understanding of this particular subject (medicine, health & illness, etc.) it is quite interesting for me inasmuch as it pertains to the Fuehrer. I was struck by the way the authors treated "Patient Hitler", presenting the facts in a clear and unbiased way.
The book is brief and offers the reader clear-cut medical data and explanations, sans negative commentary and personal prejudices, which I found pleasantly refreshing.
It was particularly insightful reading which drugs Hitler was given and how he reacted to each one. I also found their remarks about Hitler's mental state--especially throughout the last year of his life--of great value historically.
All in all it was really a quite fascinating read.

It is really a testament to the flinty conservatism of most historians that the Oprahfication of American culture has not yet been made retroactive in its history texts. While we have seen disturbing trends in the inroads tweed-jacketed neo-Marxists have made in driving political correctness into the heads of the foolish and ignorant, we have yet to hit rock bottom as evidenced by major efforts to understand the childhood traumas of Josef Stalin, or the various indignities which no doubt turned Vlad Tepes into Vlad the Impaler. Whereas the prophets of psychobabble dominate the present, the past is still replete with good, old-fashioned monsters, unredeemable through modern psychiatric understanding.

Even if one day this last rampart of sanity falls to the Prozac-entranced hordes, I suspect that one figure will remain too horrible to define by any therapeutic term: Adolf Hitler. This is not to say that investigating the hideous mental character of the archfiend is not worthwhile; just that comprehending pure evil may be as beyond our ken as understanding the nature of God.

Besides, Leonard L. and Renate Heston (M.D. and R.N. respectively) have already conducted a dispassionate study of Hitler which has been available for the past twenty years. "The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler" takes a novel approach to its subject: it merely treats Hitler as a patient and constructs a complete medical workup based on accounts accumulated from various high-ranking Nazis. This historical approach is fascinating in its simplicity; after all, it is easier (and far less perilous) to be objective about whether someone complained of sinus headaches than to report when exactly you learned about Treblinka.

Their findings are shocking and (to a layman such as myself) eminently credible. Historians tend to view Hitler as a lucky lunatic, viewing the mental decline of his latter years as the true Hitler, whereas the brilliant politician of the war's early years was merely a cunning disguise. This "rabid dog" view of Hitler always struck me as ringing hollow, as I could not imagine the likes of Erwin Rommel or Heinz Guderian eagerly embracing a madman. The authors blame the Fuhrer's very own Dr. Feelgood for pumping him full of methamphetamine and cocaine, an assertion which they support with a substantial amount of evidence.

If you're an avid student of World War II, Hitler, or merely one of the growing number of history fans who enjoy playing "What If?", you'll thoroughly enjoy this book on a much-neglected topic.

There are many theories as to what made Hitler the way he was, especially the apparent personality changes after about 1942. These include psychoanalytic theories, Adlerian theories, as well as theories of diseases including encephalitis and Parkinson's disease, etc. The Hestons discuss the pros and cons of all of these theories, and then offer one of their own. They are very thorough in their reasearch and presentation and give a very compelling case for their theory. Albert Speer, in introducing the book states that, after comparing their study with his own notes on Hitler, he believes their theory to be accurate.

Author Joachim Fest tells us that Albert Speer became fascinated with Adolf Hitler and was flattered that Hitler took a seemingly personal interest in him. Although Speer didn't think of himself as politically involved with Hitler and his cohorts, Hitler, nevertheless, saw Speer as one to build the monuments that would symbolize the Third Reich. While Speer accepts blame for his part in the Nazi regime he hedges in regard to his knowledge of the persecution of the Jews. Speer tried to distance himself from the other Nazi's being tried at Nuremberg, and although Speer expected the death sentence from the Nuremberg trials, he managed to escape with a lengthy prison sentence at Spandau prison. The author tells us about Speer's adjustment to prison life as well as his difficulties in readjusting to civilian life following his prison sentence. Of additional interest is the jealousies involved between the misfits that Hitler brought together in his entourage. The book held my interest even though I don't believe this book did, indeed, provide the reader with the final verdict as the title suggests.

Joachim Fest's "Speer: The Final Verdict" is a solid contribution to the Speer catalog. Fest's book is essentially a biography of Speer's time within the National Socialist regime. It is a nice (if somewhat redundant) companion to Speer's pseudo-autobiography "Inside the Third Reich". Whereas Speer's writings in ItTR focus not only on his time in the Nazi regime but also childhood and university years, Fest's book really deals with Speer's rise in the Nazi power structure and his association (often volatile but never strained beyond distinct affection) with Hitler. While the title suggests that the reader will gain some new insight into Speer's complicity and complacency relative to war crimes for which had association, little new is brought to life. Yet, because Fest is looking from outside - he is not writing about himself as Speer has done - the analysis can be taken with a different grain of spice. Fest does not excuse Speer's actions but rather tries to place them in a context that the reader can draw judgment from.

It is clear that Speer is an enigma within the third Reich: 1) he was highly educated (if not successful as an architect before his association with the Nazi's) and cultured - in stark contrast to other power brokers like Rohm and Bormann; 2) while certainly not immune to Hitler's psychological powers Speer did actively disobey (at great personal risk) many of Hitler's orders late in the war - with the major exception of the assassination plot conspirators Speer is essentially alone in this regard, and 3) while he appears to have despised politics he played the intrigue game within the Hitlter Court to perfection and really had few rivals (Bormann being the strongest). Was he the "Good Nazi"? Or is this simply an oxymoron? Either way, Fest's book provides ample information to let the reader decide the historical fate of Albert Speer. With Speer's own writings he attempts to paint a fairly pretty picture of his National Socialist life. Unlike other works that try hard to project conclusions about Speer's culpability and motivations, Fest's work presents facts with little interpretation - that remains the responsibility of the reader.

Albert Speer the only man in Hitler's entourage whose ambitions were peaceful and constructive, he wished to rebuild Berlin and Nuremberg. Nevertheless, in a political sense, Speer is the real criminal of Nazi Germany, for he, more than any other, represented that fatal philosophy which has made havoc of Germany and nearly shipwrecked the world. Albert Speer with his intelligence diagnosed the nature of the Nazi government and policy, but he did nothing,

Mr. Fest brings this all out well enough and what at times makes for a fantastic read.

I do not understand the purpose for this book. Albert Speer had admitted that he knew something was going on in the concentration camps, but could not bring himself to investigate it. For this, he claims, that he should be held responsible for these atrocities. He wanted to be tried and treated as if he knew fully what was happening. So, what does it matter if he really did know or not, when he took full responsibilty for it anyway? He does not claim to be a "good" Nazi nor would he want to be. He did not try to scam anybody. He stood up in front of the judges at Nuremburg and claimed himself to be as guilty as one can be. If the author feels that the punishment was lenient, he should be critical of the judges who decided on the sentence, not on Speer.

Make no doubt about it. Albert Speer was a Nazi and an evil man, if for nothing else than being a part of that regime and for not investigating further into its atrocities which was his duty. I do not think anyone disagrees with this point. He did spend twenty years in jail and was not let out until he was an old man.

I recommend reading Speer's INSIDE THE THIRD REICH which allows alot more insight to how the whole nation of Germany could be seduced by such an evil man as Hitler, and how he was too. I do however give this author credit for taking the other side of the argument and the unpopular view.

Like many contemporary works of non-fiction, "The Good Nazi" provides support for the axiom that truth is often stranger than fiction. Albert Speer remains in many ways one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century, admired for his singular and seemingly forthright admission of guilt and culpability for crimes committed by the Third Reich during the Nuremberg War Trials, but reviled by many later for conducting a campaign of disingenuous prevarication to justify his actions and stances before during and after the war. Speer spent two decades years in the allied prison at Spandau as one of the few members of the Nazi hierarchy to escape the death sentence, and wrote a best-selling book that he secretly smuggled out over the course of the twenty years with the cooperation of his wife and family. With its publication in the early 1970s, he became internationally famous, and he shamelessly used the bully pulpit of his own notoriety to forward his own revisionist notions about what really happened during the 12-year reign of the Third Reich.

The present book revolves around the complex nature of the issues raised during this post-prison campaign. On the one hand, Speer was the only of the accused former Nazis to admit his own guilt and complicity in the crimes and misdeeds of the Third Reich, yet on the other hand he always denied any direct knowledge of the Holocaust. This terrific biography by Dan vander Vat, subtitled 'The Life and Lies of Albert Speer'. represents a well-documented and penetrating investigation into the admittedly contradictory aspects to Speer's explanations, justifications, and rationalizations of his own role and conduct during and after the Second World War. The author lays an exhaustive groundwork for his claims that Speer was in actuality the ultimate opportunist, one who used his charm, position, and influence both to rise shamelessly through the Nazi ranks to become the second in command and who subsequently ployed these obfuscating skills to further ingratiate himself with the world at large.

The essence of the author's argument is that Speer was basically an amoral and extremely ambitious opportunist who did whatever was necessary to further his own life situation, whether it be that of a rising Nazi official or as a prevaricating apologist for a shameless German past. Thus, at one point Speer is depicted as the ultimate company man, a dedicated Nazi zealously and shamelessly pursuing the maximization of forced and slave labor in service to the Reich's war objective, deliberately and systematically exploiting the millions of captive peoples, most usually to the point of physical exhaustion and death. Try though he might, Speer could never adequately explain away his own behavior and actions during the war, and it seem quite evident that he did indeed conduct a campaign of deliberate obfuscation and prevarication regarding his own role in the Nazi murder machine. This is a book that sometimes makes one uneasy because of the nature of the facts it is investigating, yet which also does so with great care and endless levels of scrupulous detail. I heartily recommend it for anyone who cares to peer into what Hannah Arendt so memorably described as being the utter 'banality of evil'. Enjoy!

One of the great enigmas of The Nuremberg Trials from the reading I had done, was how Albert Speer escaped death, and instead went to prison and spent the better part of 2 decades a free man. Speer is known to many as The Architect Of The Third Reich. Known for his heavy Neo-Classic designs, he made for an ideal kindred spirit with the Corporal, who was a frustrated/failed architect. He became the man that would design, and then oversee construction of some of the largest, and some would say designs of questionable artistic merit, until Berlin began to be reduced to the post war rubble pile it was destined to become. Many of the planned buildings and monuments would dwarf buildings even by today's standards. While the war made redecorating the homes of the Nazi elite, and Hitler's projects increasingly difficult and then impossible, Speer never lacked work.

The net result of Speer's greatest contribution to the Nazi war effort was his remarkable ability as a manager of production, which actually lengthened the War. By any measure Speer was responsible for countless deaths that otherwise would never have happened had he not been one of Hitler's zealots, one of those mesmerized and totally loyal to the Corporal. The production of war material actually increased under the direction of Speer, and did so as the War was winding down. Production of weapons was actually at some of its highest levels at various times later, rather than earlier in the War.

None of the incredible feats of production he was able to conjure despite seemingly hopeless odds, match the odds he beat when his life was at a very high probability of ending at Nuremberg. How this Nazi at the very highest echelons of power, a man who was a close confidant's of the Corporal would survive the fate of his peers is the story that Mr. Dan Van Der Velt shares in his work "The Good Nazi". I don't know if anyone was offering odds of who would beat the hangman, but the odds Speer beat, have to have made him was of the longest shots ever to come in a winner in history.

There are those who say his "attempt" to kill Hitler, and his refusal to follow orders for the destruction of Berlin mitigated the crimes he was guilty of. These people would say that had he carried out all of the final orders to destroy Berlin's infrastructure, it would have lengthened the City's recovery, and brought additional suffering to the survivors. His acts or lack of action in these respects in a purely pragmatic sense may have mitigated some adverse results. But these have to be placed side by side with his conduct for year after year as a very high ranking member of Hitler's Staff, a man that did as he was told, who did not question anything, until the outcome was crystal clear, and it was to his advantage to do so.

Speer ran his factories with slave labor; he personally was responsible for the rounding up and "resettlement" of 75,000 Jews from Berlin at a minimum. He oversaw the factories, the brutal conditions, and vicious punishments that were as much a part of his way of carrying out his orders as any other high-ranking Nazi.

But this criminal's greatest talent was as an actor, who played a role he had one chance at, and anything other than a flawless performance would result in his death. Not only did he cheat death, he spent the better part of 2 decades living as a free man after serving a prison term in Spandau Prison. He was able to convince his judges that "The Final Solution" was something he was ignorant of, and to the extent he knew of any act of cruelty his was Germany's Penitent.

Even after reading this account of Speer I find it incredible that he accomplished the greatest scam of the war. I would like to think he provided some incredible service that is unknown, so as to justify the leniency this man was dealt with, some set of mitigating circumstances that are almost unimaginable in light of the crimes he did commit. I can find none, I cannot find one, and I remain as baffled by his escape, if better informed, than prior to reading this book. The work is extremely well done, and my failure to understand what led to his lack of punishment in no way reflects on the quality of the work.

Speer lived to be an old man who enjoyed his freedom into the 1980's. He may never have built Hitler's "Germania", with monstrosities like a 400,000 seat stadium in the city where he went on trial. But in the end he won, he survived, and to this day must remain an enigma, the consummate escape artist who left Nuremberg alive, and later in 1966 walked out of prison a free man, a man who theoretically paid backed Humanity for a war many felt he lengthened for a year, and a man who convinced his accusers the Holocaust was not something he could in any way be held accountable for.