Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth [Paperback]

Gitta Sereny (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 29, 1996

Albert Speer was not only Hitler's architect and armaments minister, but the Fuhrer's closest friend--his "unhappy love." Speer was one of the few defendants at the Nuremberg Trials to take responsibility for Nazi war crimes, even as he denied knowledge of the Holocaust. Now this enigma of a man is unveiled in a monumental biography by a writer who came to know Speer intimately in his final years. Out of hundreds of hours of interviews, Sereny unravels the threads of Speer's personality: the genius that made him indispensable to the German war machine, the conscience that drove him to repent, and the emotional wounds that made him susceptible to Hitler's lethal magnetism. Read as an inside account of the Third Reich, or as a revelatory unsparing yet compassionate study of the human capacity for evil, Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth is a triumph.



"Fascinating...Not only a major addition to our knowledge of the Third Reich, but a stunning attempt to understand the nature of good and evil."--Newsday


"More than a biography...It also constitutes a perceptive re-examination of the mysterious appeal of Adolf Hitler."--San Francisco Chronicle

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Gitta Sereny's biography meticulously re-creates for the reader the professional, emotional, and psychological life of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and later his Minister of Armaments. Throughout the 12-year history of the Third Reich, Speer remained one of Hitler's most trusted confidants and one of the most powerful political leaders of the Nazi party. Researched and written over an eight year period, Albert Speer weaves together information from innumerable personal interviews with Speer, his family, close friends, and professional colleagues, the author's own solid grasp of German history, and critical readings of Speer's own writings, including various drafts of his memoirs, Inside the Third Reich, first published in 1969.

Throughout, Sereny consciously avoids the pitfall of many Speer biographers, who seek to either blame or exculpate Speer for the Nazi's atrocities. Instead, she succeeds in helping the reader understand a "morally extinguished" man and place into context "all the crimes against humanity which Hitler initiated, which continue to threaten us today, and of which Speer, who was in many ways a man of excellence, sadly enough made himself a part." Well over 700 pages, Albert Speer is not a quick read, but superbly written and meticulously researched, it is a pleasure to read, providing unprecedented insight into one of the most complex figures in modern German history. --Bertina Loeffler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Based on extensive firsthand interviews, this biography of the late Nazi Speer probes the nature of good and evil.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (October 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780679768128
• ISBN-13: 978-0679768128
• ASIN: 0679768122
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #536,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars examination of guilt and repentence April 29, 2003

By Boris Aleksandrovsky

Format:Paperback

Gita Sereny's "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" is well-written meticulously researched opus on the colorful life, memorable tribulations and profound ethical conflicts of the formed Minister of Armament and Productions, beloved architect and one of the only real friends Adolf Hitler ever had. "You are Hitler's unrequited love" somebody comments to Speer and the emotional connection between the monster and his servant was profound, complex and infinitely important to both parties. In Speer Hitler found realization of his artistic and romantic dreams, his only sense of real creation outside of the realm of politics and organization, non-threatening acceptance by the men of superior social upbringing based not on fear but on the profound unity of artistic mission. For Speer, Hitler of course brought the position of power, influence and the oracle of truth, possibility of realization of himself for which any architect would've been prepared for a Faustian bargain.

From 1932 to 1944 Speer served Hitler with his heart and his soul. After the crisis in his personal life, illness and realization of the war being lost, came a time for Speer to gradually realize that he was serving and evil man. As always in the relationship, this was colored in profoundly personal terms, and due to his calling and upbringing matched into romantic showdown (I am referring to Speer's famous confession in the bunker on the eve of the demise of the Third Reich, which the author implies might not even had happened.) At Nuremberg, Speer was the only defendant who accepted a principle of collective responsibility unconditionally, versed however in smart and carefully terms which might've saved his neck in the long term. There we see the beginning of the personal struggle with guilt and a difficult road to truth....

Gita Sereny's analysis is touches on all aspects of Speer's life - childhood, love life, upbringing, social conditions for the upper middle class German of his generation, his years in the helm of power, 20 years in prison and 15 years as a writer, researcher and apologist for his own past. A picture of profoundly disturbed man emerges, a man who becomes "morally extinguished" as the horror outside unravels. Speer was serving his sentence for the rest of his life, unable to live anywhere but in his past, partially lamenting, partially horrified by it, unable to relate very well to his family sacrificed perhaps as a part of his bargain. Profound conflict in Speer's life, his inability to admit or even realize that he was aware of the Final Solution and have done nothing, a horrible mistake of omission hunted him for the rest of his life.

This book is a fascinating read, all 750+ pages of it. Some of the material is a didactic repetition of events in Speer's life which can be gotten from his books, but I would not suggest skipping it since Sereny often compares multiple drafts and cross references it with other sources. You have to be committed to this book, but once the commitment is made, you are up for a treat! Enjoy! Read more ›

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Complexity, Ambiguity; Human January 12, 2007

By C. Kaye

Format:Hardcover

I have never seen an author come close to Sereny in her ability to portray and accept the complexity of human nature, which she does with this Albert Speer book to the nth degree; it is a work of art.

This book is never dry and never didactic. Unlike like some historians, Ms. Sereny never forgets that at the root of her story lie human beings, and righfully they should be at the center of any story of human history. She always relates it back to the human being.

I find Publisher's Weekly's assertion that she was his apologist to be laughable; she never, ever lets him off the hook. One feels that she is a very moral human being.

This 700+ page book is never dull. The portrait she etches of Albert Speer and the people of his time is indelible; I doubt you will ever forget it. And if you live with your books the way I do you will find yourself thinking about your own morality when you are through.

I read her "Marybelle" book a few years ago and was bowled over by it; it is as fine a book as the Speer book though much smaller. In this country where we are having a field day charging and sentencing children as adults it is a necessity to read.

Let me end this by saying Gitta Sereny is of the caliber of Hannah Arendt, though the better writer!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Formidable Man Is Confronted By A Formidable Biographer January 15, 2002

By Craig Montesano

Format:Paperback

In the course of his interviews with Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer remarked that had she been a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, he would have hanged.

How many biographers have had the opportunity to actively challenge their subjects' veracity? Not content to leave even the (seemingly) most minute details to chance, Sereny conducted exhaustive archival research and background interviews with Speer's family, friends, former associates, and enemies. This allows her to face Speer on equal footing -- and thus reveals new insights on the most enigmatic of Hitler's ministers.

While the central theme of the book revolves around the question of what Speer knew about the Final Solution, and when he knew about it, the story of how one man could be almost wholly seduced by evil is also investigated. The reader will learn that Speer, unloved as a child, came under Hitler's influence in the way that many young men with lacunas in their souls will come to misidentify membership in a collective enterprise with their own self-worth.

In fact, if, as William Manchester said, Speer's 'Inside the Third Reich' "takes us through the looking-glass," then Sereny's book represents the adventures in Wonderland itself. The history of Hitler's Germany is seen from the unique context of the Hitler-Speer relationship. Far from relying on one-dimensional oversimplification, though, Sereny explores just how masterfully the Nazi hierarchy came to power and prosecuted a war -- proving once again that evil is not always overt and monstrous, but subtle and palliative.

Was Speer a dissembler? Was he sincere in his attempt to atone for his particpation in an evil regime? I will leave the reader to his own conclusions.... However, it is worth noting Sereny's charitable conclusion about this truly historical figure: "It seemed to me it was some kind of victory that this man -- just this man -- weighed down by intolerable and unmanageable guilt, with the help of a Protestant chaplain, a Catholic monk, and a Jewish rabbi, tried to become a different man."

This is perhaps the most fascinating one-volume account of Nazi Germany to appear in recent years, and will enrich our knowledge of that particularly dark time in history. Highly recommended. Read more ›

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Look At Albert Speer! March 21, 2003

By Barron Laycock HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

The issue raging over the veracity and accuracy of Albert Speer's self-serving recollections of the infamous Third Reich and his participation therein have been going on and on for well over thirty years. yet, as anyone unfortunate enough to have experienced a bitter divorce can testify as to the degree to which two otherwise intelligent and perceptive human beings can violently disagree as to what the truth is regarding matters both witnessed and had been parties to. So it is with our continuing fascination and absolute incredulity regarding Albert Speer, an otherwise intelligent and perceptive soul, who just so happens to have been a willing participant in one of the most horrific administrations in the history of the 20th century, the Nazi Third Reich.

In two quite absorbing but incredibly self-serving books, Speer argued that he never understood the full extent of the Nazi war crimes nor the degree to which his own actions were complicit with those horrific aims. He first argued this at the war trials in Nuremberg, but did so in such a way as to admit his own culpability based on his rank and his actions as Chief Of Armaments Production, during which he employed slave labor in service to the German war effort. By being the only defendant at Nuremberg to show any semblance of remorse, he saved himself by admitting his own guilt, though largely guilt by association.

Careful readings of the trials transcripts show that he was, in fact, fairly forthcoming in his admissions, although he always contended that he lacked specifics regarding the so-called 'Final Solution' or even of the fact that the concentration camps in Poland and elsewhere were being used to systematically annihilate millions of Jews and Gypsies.... In fact, he was an incredibly sophisticated human being who was expert in 'toadying up' to whomever he needed to. The fact that he was convincing enough to the Allies to escape the death sentence speaks volumes about his persuasiveness and ability to read into the possibilities any situation offered.

It is the author's contention that Speer must be held accountable for having allowed a tyrant like Hitler to rise. Yet Hitler was well in place before Speer ever met him. Speer is a man of stunning contradictions, someone of education, culture, and breeding who succumbed to the siren call of power, fame, and riches. While he eventually became expert at fashioning a defense both for himself and his actions both during and after the war, the truth of the matter is that most of what he argued in his own defense was (and is) preposterous. No one could have walked in the circles he did, have acted in concert with the aims and goals of the Nazi regime with such success and energy, and yet have been as totally naive and ignorant as he always claimed he was. What he recalls more than anything is the old adage Hitler was said to have coined; 'Tell a man an outrageous lie often enough for long enough and even he will come to believe it' I think Speer proved the accuracy of that adage, believing in his own lie. This is an absorbing and provocative book, and one I can heartily recommend to the student of modern history. Enjoy! Read more ›