A dramatization of the life of Albert Speer (Rutger Hauer), Adolf Hitler's (Sir Derek Jacobi's) young architect and one-time confidant, and his meteoric rise into the Nazi hierarchy. Speer studied at the technical schools in Karlsruhe, Munich, and Berlin, and acquired an architectural license in 1927. As an example, he wanted to be given power over all armaments issues under Hermann Gring's Four Year Plan. [15], In January 1931, Speer applied for Nazi Party membership, and on 1 March 1931, he became member number 474,481. Until 2 September 1943 the position's official name was Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions. These centered on a three-mile-long grand boulevard running from north to south, which Speer called the Prachtstrasse, or Street of Magnificence;[35] he also referred to it as the "NorthSouth Axis". They paid for Toni Proost to go on holiday, and for bribes to those who might be able to secure Speer's release. The complicated architecture of Albert Speer, Jr. From being the son of a Nazi to becoming one of the world's foremost architects, this 82-year-old urban planner has been on top of the German planning world for more than half a century. He added a stone exterior that pleased Hitler. [158] Kitchen said he had deceived the Nuremberg Tribunal and post-war Germany. [51] Speer used forced Jewish labor on these projects, in addition to regular German workers. The idea for this myth came to him after he recalled the panic when car fumes came through an air ventilation system. Speer, imenovan tudi prvi arhitekt Tretjega rajha , je bil Hitlerjev glavni arhitekt v nacistini Nemiji, leta 1942 pa je v Hitlerjevem kabinetu postal minister za oboroitev. For a treatise on this aspect of the war including Speer's involvement see: Randall, Hansen, Last edited on 17 February 2023, at 08:56, Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production, Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions, "Trials of the War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, Volume II: The Milch Case", "Wartime reports debunk Speer as the good Nazi", "Letter proves Speer knew of Holocaust plan", "Historiker ber Albert Speer: "Er tat alles fr den Endsieg", "Rechtfertigung und Entlastung. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (German: [pe] ( listen); March 19, 1905 - September 1, 1981) was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. 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. Brother of Hermann Speer and Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer. Albert Speer ( 19. bezna 1905 Mannheim - 1. z 1981 Londn ), celm jmnem Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, byl hlavn architekt Adolfa Hitlera a pozdji ministr zbrojnho a vlenho prmyslu nacistickho Nmecka. [37] Speer hired Wolters as part of his design team, with special responsibility for the Prachtstrasse. There's a small road going to the right. Albert Speer Jr. was born on July 29, 1934, one year after Hitler had consolidated power in Germany. In response, Hitler appointed Fritz Sauckel as a "manpower dictator" to obtain new workers. [165] Trommer said he was not an apolitical technocrat; instead, he was one of the most powerful and unscrupulous leaders in the Nazi regime. He took a role in that short-lived regime as Minister of Industry and Production. During the winter of 194142, in the light of Germany's disastrous defeat in the Battle of Moscow, the German leadership including Friedrich Fromm, Georg Thomas and Fritz Todt had come to the conclusion that the war could not be won. [39], Plans to build a new Reich chancellery had been underway since 1934. [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. The V-2's first target was Paris on 8 September 1944. by punktlich02 29 Oct 2009, 11:35, Return to The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section. The film began a process of demystification and critical reappraisal. He fabricated the additional details. [12] In Munich Speer began a close friendship, ultimately spanning over 50 years, with Rudolf Wolters, who also studied under Tessenow. Inside the Third Reich begins with an account of Speer's childhood, followed by a description of his role as Heinrich Tessenow's assistant at the Technical University of Berlin. [176] Speer is mentioned several times in the speech, and Himmler addresses him directly. His formal title was changed on 2 September 1943, to "Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production". 46.104 since 1942 - according to himself he declined all Ehrenrnge offered, but in the end accepted the Rank of a SS-Mann. Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer (March 19, 1905 - September 1, 1981), was an architect, author and high-ranking Nazi German government official, sometimes called "the first architect of the Third Reich ." Speer's Heidelberg school offered rugby football, unusual for Germany, skiing, and Speer was a participant. A scene from 'Rise of the Nazis' Photo: 72 Films. He was acquitted on the other two counts. From 1946 to 1966, while serving the sentence in Spandau Prison, he penned more than 2,000 manuscript pages of personal memoirs. The concrete cylinder, 14 metres (46ft) high, was used to measure ground subsidence as part of feasibility studies for a massive triumphal arch and other large structures planned within Hitler's post-war renewal project for the city of Berlin as the world capital Germania. After his release on 1 October 1966, he used Federal Archive documents to rework the material into his autobiography. [38] The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the postponement, and later the abandonment, of these plans. Speer arrived there the previous evening and accepted Todt's offer to fly with him to Berlin. [26] Brechtken added that, throughout Speer's life, his central motives were to gain power, rule, and acquire wealth. [114], The chief United States prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, of the U.S. Supreme Court said, "Speer joined in planning and executing the program to dragoon prisoners of war and foreign workers into German war industries, which waxed in output while the workers waned in starvation. Adam Tooze wrote in The Wages of Destruction that the idea that Speer was an apolitical technocrat was "absurd". Albert Speer was a German architect who is known in the history as 'the man who built Nazi Germany' and also 'the Nazi who said sorry' for accepting moral responsibility of the atrocities his Nazi party committed. [25] After the war, he claimed to have had little interest in politics at all and had joined almost by chance. [139] Although he stated he hoped to resume an architectural career, his sole project, a collaboration for a brewery, was unsuccessful. [147], Speer made himself widely available to historians and other enquirers. Instead, development turned to a "uranium motor", for use in the navy's submarines. Though stockpiling of materials and other work continued, this slowed to a halt as more resources were needed for the armament industry. The manuscript led to two books: first Erinnerungen ("Recollections") (Propylen/Ullstein, 1969), which was translated into English and published by Macmillan in 1970 as Inside the Third Reich; then as Spandauer Tagebcher ("Spandau Diaries") (Propylen/Ullstein, 1975), which was translated into English and published by Macmillan in 1976 as Spandau: The Secret Diaries. "[16] The historian Magnus Brechtken, discussing Speer, said he did not give anti-Jewish public speeches and that his anti-Semitism can best be understood through his actionswhich were anti-Semitic. German architect of the Nazi period (1933-45). Speer was able to have his writings sent to Wolters, however, and they eventually amounted to 20,000 pages. [50] In his final statement at Nuremberg, Speer gave the impression of apologizing, although he did not directly admit any personal guilt and the only victim he mentioned was the German people. Showing 28 distinct works. [91], On 14 April 1944, Speer lost control of Organisation Todt to his Deputy, Franz Xaver Dorsch. [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. [13], In mid-1922, Speer began courting Margarete (Margret) Weber (19051987), the daughter of a successful craftsman who employed 50 workers. [67] With Hitler's full agreement, he decided to prioritize tank production, and he was given unrivaled power to ensure success. Como Ministro do Armamento, Speer foi responsvel pela grande produtividade da Alemanha neste setor nos anos finais da Segunda Guerra Mundial. It was used for Nazi propaganda rallies and can be seen in Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film Triumph of the Will. Speer was appalled by this order, and persuaded several key military and political leaders to ignore it. Its aim was to ensure the preservation and growth of fighter aircraft production. 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. In July1932, the Speers visited Berlin to help out the Party before the Reichstag elections. [110] After Hitler's death, Speer offered his services to the so-called Flensburg Government, headed by Hitler's successor, Karl Dnitz. [83] His political rivals used the opportunity to undermine his authority and damage his reputation with Hitler. This criticism is mainly presented by the documentary film "Speer Goes to Hollywood" by the director Vanessa Lapa. [59] Speer proved to be ambitious, unrelenting and ruthless. He coveted control of the production of armaments for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine as well. [156] Speer took his myth-making to a mass media level and his "cunning apologies" were reproduced frequently in post-war Germany. [154] In his memoirs and interviews, he had distorted the truth and made so many major omissions that his lies became known as "myths". happened. She married Prince Albert who was her cousin. [117], Speer was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, principally for the use of slave labor and forced labor. It became instrumental in exploiting slave labor for the benefit of the German war effort. [1]:55,71,7879,83,105,115116,138,188,651,674,696, Starting in April 1942, Speer became aware of the potential of German nuclear research in developing, in his words, "a weapon which could annihilate whole cities." In the World War II, Hitler appointed him as the Minister of Armaments and War Production for Germany. Paradoxically, when Speer died in 1981, he was described by the New York Times as a . Speer returned to London in 1981 to participate in the BBC Newsnight programme. [64] Another factor that produced the boom in ammunition was the policy of allocating more coal to the steel industry. 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. [8] In 1924, when the crisis had abated, he transferred to the "much more reputable" Technical University of Munich. Die Zelle. . [177], The armaments "miracle" was a myth; Speer had used statistical manipulation to support his claims.