Albert Speer: The End of a Myth

Albert Speer was a truly gifted individual both with personality and ability, though he often seemed lost in a room full of people. He was despised by many fellow Nazis, yes Albert held party card #474,481 dated March 1, 1931, but was befriended and beloved by Adolf Hitler. Which made all the difference in Albert Speer's life and legacy. He became Hitler and the Reich's #1 architect among several other high offices. His initial salary was set 1,700 Reich marks higher than the mayor of Berlin whose salary was 1,654. At war's end during the Nuremberg trials Speer chose a semi-factual sly defense which saved his life, and he avoided the hangman. Had many facts come out then that are known now, Albert Speer quite probably would not have received the 20 year Spandau jail term he received, but would have no doubt been hanged. According to one of his recent biographers, Albert Speer never truly came to terms with his Third Reich years. Somehow he was part chameleon and part teflon, acting throughout his entire life with little thought to the consequences of his actions. Being somewhat amoral he could and did many times see only what he wanted to see, being many things to many people. At the time of release of Inside The Third Reich several men who had worked for him said the Albert Speer in that book was a person which they did not recognize. While even his closest friend from childhood, Dr. Rudolf Wolters, felt the book full of untruths and ironies. Dr. Rudolf Wolters, Speer's friend from childhood, had also worked directly for Albert Speer during the war years keeping a daily diary (initialed and approved daily by Speer)and had edited out many pages of diary material deemed adverse to his and Speer's actions. They both had altered the written records. What this book claims to provide, and what I have always maintained, was that Albert Speer could spin history with the best of them, and was among the luckiest people to have ever lived through the Third Reich into our times. Yes, he did 20 years in prison which could not have been enjoyable at all, but he did beat the hangman. All the while smuggling written papers in and out of prison which he hoped would tell and explain the war years as he wanted them presented. He always had his eye on history even from that first day he met Herr Hitler. Albert was not a conniver to equal Hermann Goering , nor the polemist to equal Dr. Goebbels, nor as sinister as Henrich Himmler, but he outlasted them all. He was lucky and he was good, and we are still trying to capture just 'who' was the real Albert Speer. What was real and what was fantasy in his life and his writings. In short, the question becomes: just who was this historical character of the Third Reich years called Albert Speer? This book aids in that search and understanding. Semper Fi.

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.