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Inside the Third Reich

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Inside the Third Reich is a "must read" book for anyone interested in World War II or Nazi Germany. As Hitler's Minster of Armament and War Production, Albert Speer's memoirs provide firsthand information on the German leadership and war efforts during this period. The book covers events from his early childhood to his imprisonment in Spandau Prison, as a Nazi war criminal. In the course of telling his own story, Speer also provides valuable insights into other key players in Nazi regime, such as Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, Martin Borman, Karl Doenitz, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, and many other high-ranking Nazi leaders.

Albert Speer served under Adolf Hitler for over 14 year and was one of Hitler's closest associates during most of that period. As Speer testified at Nuremberg, "If Hitler had had any friends, I would certainly been one of his close friends." Speer initially served as one of Hitler's architects and later as the Minister of Armament and War Production. Sharing a passion for design and architecture, Speer quickly impressed Hitler after completing several projects in record time. In the pre-war period, Hitler was obsessed with constructing monumental builds that would characterize Germany as the great "1,000 year Reich" that he envisioned. Having proven his ability to successfully manage complex projects, Speer used these same talents to make himself indispensable as the head of all Germany armament and production efforts in support of the war. Many of the principles he used over fifty years ago, are very similar to the quality initiatives used today. Sharing a passion for architecture and proving his management acumen, Speer was quickly accepted to Hitler's inner circle.

Following the end of the war, Speer wasone of the only Nazi's to take responsibility for his part in the war crimes. Albert Speer wrote Inside the Third Reich in an attempt to come to grips with his part in the Nazi atrocities of WW II. His statement that "only the truth could accelerate the process of cutting free from the past," provides some insight into his motives for publishing these memoirs. To set the stage, Speer describes how he was lured by Hitler's charisma, drawn into the struggle for power, and how an environment of secrets and intrigues all led to his failure to realize the crimes that were committed during the war. Even at the very end of the war, after he was thoroughly disgusted with Hitler and had overtly countered many of Hitler's direct orders, Speer claimed he still felt as if he was under Hitler's spell. Speer explains how in those last days he was still thrilled when Hitler would treat him as one of the inner circle.

As a rather young man, Speer was awarded positions ofpower and prestige, working directly for the most worshipped man in Germany--and he owed all of this success to this man, Adolf Hitler. Hitler was like a savior to many of the post-World War I Germans, and Speer had the opportunity to be one of is closest associates. However, with these rewards, Speer was also lured into his own ultimate downfall. Thus Speer stated, "I owe him the enthusiasm and the glory of my youth as well as belated horror and guilt."

At the Nuremberg trials, Albert Speer was charged specifically with the crime of organizing forced labor to work in the production of German war materials. In his defense, Speer claimed that while he was aware prisoners were being used for forced labor, he was not aware of the other atrocities being committed, such as the Jewish holocaust or the inhumane treatment of the prisoners. He also claimed the German people, in general, should not be judged for what the government alone was responsible. Speer stated that while all government officials should be held responsible for fundamental matters, they should not be held responsible for the details which were not in their control. I interpret this to mean the government should be held responsible for establishing the environment in which the crimes were committed, but only the actual offenders should be held accountable for their individual crimes.

In the conclusion of the book, Speer posts a warning for future governments not to fall into the same trap as Nazi Germany. He warns that in an age of technology it is easy for a dictator to commit crimes and breed corruption. He states technology allows a dictator to easily hide his actions and motives, more efficiently conduct his crimes and intrigues, and allows direct communication, surveillance, and control over his subjects.

To build his case, Speer draws heavily on his own experiences and records, as well as, official records found in the Federal Archives in Germany. Numerous excerpts from daily journals, photographs, and policy memorandums add to the credibility of his text. However, I am obligated to warn the reader of potential inaccuracies. First, I believe it is only human nature for an individual to portray themselves in a favorable light, especially an individual that has been accused of some of the worst crimes in history. Speer himself admits in several cases that he lied to Hitler, the court at Nuremberg, and to others in order to protect his position. Additionally, Speer talks about his involvement in various intrigues to gain/protect his power--thus we could assume that he may also have been compelled to cover his role in more important matters that could have lead to his execution. To look at both sides of this debate on credibility, we can turn to two books written about Albert Speer.

In Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth, Gitta Sereny takes a more psychological approach in her investigation of Speer's participation in the war crimes. While Sereny provides evidence that Speer was probably lying about several situations, she also discusses the possibility that Speer repressed memories of certain atrocities, which later emerged after the war. When drawing our own conclusion, we must also keep in mind that Sereny apparently had developed a close friendship with Speer in the course of her investigations.

At the other extreme, in Matthias Schmidt's Albert Speer: The End of a Myth, he claims to provide evidence of Speer's knowledge of the concentration camps and extermination of the Jews. He also provides numerous discrepancies in both Speer's testimony and in his memoirs. Matthias goes on to claim Speer actually attempted to suppress various documents that surfaced after his release from prison, that confirmed his knowledge and participation in the deportation of Jews. Matthias also paints Speer as a ruthless and power hungry person that was well aware of the crimes being committed. This picture of Speer is quite the opposite of that portrayed by Sereny or even by Speer, himself--as a "respectable Nazi" that was lured into Hitler's trance.

Apart from this accuracy debate, there are two final cautions to the reader. First, Inside the Third Reich provides an enormous amount of detail on the architecture, buildings, and idle tea-time with Hitler. These details may tend to fatigue the reader, especially if they are not an architecture enthusiast. Second, the book is not organized in strict chronological order. While the book generally follows his life, each chapter actually covers overlapping timeframes, which may cause the reader to lose track of a particular sequence of events.

In general, Inside the Third Reich is an excellent book that provides not only an autobiography, but also several biographies into one book. This book is sure to give the World War II enthusiast great insights into this period in world history. Although there may be an abundance of details on architecture and afternoon tea with Hitler, there are also valuable historic accounts of the effects of allied bombing on the German war machine and Speer's effective efforts to continue a high rate of production.

This is probably the most famous of all WWII memoirs, and in many ways this is perfectly justified. Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and Minister of Armaments, wrote this book during his 20-year prison term following the Nuremburg trials. Speer's reflections on his own absorbtion into the Nazi regime and the unfolding of the greatest war in history reveal the men who ruled Nazi Germany with general sincerity and enlightening insight. Goering, Goebbles, Himmler, Bormann, and even Eva Braun are each highlighted by Speer's keen evaluations, and for the most part found wanting. Hitler himself emerges from Speer's portrait as a man whose megalomania was always clear to anyone who cared to notice, but whose sheer charisma and force of will swept the German people inexorably into the inferno. Speer takes much of the blame for Germany's war effort, and admits that he and his cohorts, even if personally ignorant of Hitler's concentration camps, were nonetheless accomplices in crime. The book does demand some historical awareness on the reader's part, as Speer focuses mainly on the rather closed-in, often literally subterranean world of the Nazi leadership, so that references to important military events often come with little or no elaboration--Speer apparently assumed his readers would already be well acquainted with the historical record, and this is required for a full appreciation of his text. Though undoubtedly subjective, Speer's memoirs remain the most powerful and educational work on the inner workings of Nazism ever published. Highly recommended to all students of military/political history.

After watchiing the not-so-hot Nuremberg movie on TNT, I was once again fascinated by all things WWII, and particularly by the "good Nazi", Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, whose life was spared in the trials -- instead he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This book chronicles with a seemingly honest voice the years leading up to the war, the war itself, and in particular of Speer's strangely remote friendship/comradery with "his Fuhrer". Hitler emerges in this book as more human than we usually give him credit for; still, as the author admits, his descent into power-mad horror is inhuman at best. This book is most troubling as an eyewitness account -- and, even in its "honest" retrospect -- of an entire people's willing ignorance of the evil brewing in their very backyard, all in the name of personal success, comfort, achievement at last. The Germans were so thirsty for a period of relative calm that they welcomed Hitler and embraced his butchery, all the while pretending they did not know what was happening...I am not sure it is entirely convincing, to imagine that Speer, not only the architect of Hitler's new vision for Germany, but eventually too his Master of Armaments, for God's sakes, was so indebted to his leader for his achievements in professional life that he simply DID NOT KNOW what was happening in places such as Auschwitz...this is a deeply troubling memoir, but, even in the moral questions it raises, deserves to be read as a first-person chronicle of life with the most horrifying world leader in modern times.

I've lived with Speer's memoirs now for what? over 30 years. I've read them numerous times. I can never tell when it's time to do it again. A repeat viewing of HBO's "Conspiracy" prompted my latest re-reading.

I come away from Speer's memoirs with some odd and complex feelings. Speer seems so utterly detached from everything, and most of all from his own psychology, that reading his memoirs can sometimes inspire a kind of vertigo.

Those times when he seems close to revealing something genuinely authentic, he often sounds like a child or adolescent. This was most evident in his description of his illness during the war, when he was almost sidelined for good, and had to engage in some serious intrigue in order to keep his position. The combination of acute political acumen, and childlike frustration he displays is quite peculiar, and it pays to read that part of the book with great care.

There is no question that the book is written very clearly and beautifully. Very often Speer captures the dramatic immediacy of his life and times..still, the cameos of various Nazi leaders are just that: snapshots that seldom create a whole being. This aspect of the book is like looking at a scrapbook of photographs with short captions. We seldom get any real insight into these people. Just as Speer has very little insight into himself.

Speer's descriptions of his ongoing relationships with various Nazi leaders are enormously informative, no question about that, but you have a sense that Speer, for all his intelligence, had real trouble seeing very deeply. He could get below the surface a bit--his amateur analyses of, say, Goebbles and Goering are entertaining, but strangely shallow. The one exception to this, in certain ways, is Speer's picture of Hitler. Speer gives a deep and textured description of his changing relationship with his Fuehrer, but even here, you have the sense Speer just cannot penetrate down to something essential. Perhaps this is less Speer's fault, than it is due to the plain fact that Hitler was ultimately opaque to everyone who knew him. Or, at least, he was a very different person to different people, the signal quality of a first-rate con-man.

And then there's the question of Speer's guilt. He says the right things, and says them often. But there is a strange, forced quality to his numerous mea-culpas that leaves a miasma behind. I don't doubt that, in some way, Speer believes what he says about his guilt. He believes that he did not know about the Holocaust. Except for the evidence of Gitta Sereny's excellent book about Speer, which offers strong proof that Speer, in fact, was very well informed about what was going on in the camps but simply chose not to know. He was informed, but turned away from the information. This implied guilt also runs like smoke through Speer's entire memoirs, as if the memoirs, and the rest of his life were an expiation of that guilt.

It's almost as if he never did comprehend the scale of the Holocaust. That it was all unreal to him, both during, and after. The extreme demands of his work during the war would have contributed to this. He would have kept his head down and worked incredibly hard, like any good technocrat, and that would have made it easier to simply ignore the Hell directly in front of him.

All of this is unintentially revealing, I think. There are two books in Speer's Memoirs. The plain story he tells, and another story, between the lines, about a man who was so good at compartmentalizing his life that he could tolerate almost anything.

It's worth noting that in both "Inside the Third Reich" and far more in the "Spandau Diaries" there is the constant whiff of death, no matter how much Speer tries to seal it off. The crypt is never far away here, and, to be honest, I'm not sure Speer ever realized that.

Speer's Memoirs are most disturbing when you realize that he is us: he is the "average man." Above average intelligence and training, yes. But average or below in his psychological insight. And that is how it happens. Most humans have no psychological intelligence at all. Or just enough to get by in the world. And that is how the Hitlers work their will. Speer's books are a cautionary tale in ways he never imagined, about how it can indeed happen here. It can happen anywhere. With the Speers of the moment facilitating every step.

As a near autobiography written by a man sitting in a prison cell with a lot of time to think about things, the faults of this book are predictable. If we have any appreciation of human failings, it is unreasonable of us to expect complete honesty and objectivity from a man seeking for himself some understanding re the events he was both caught up in and partly responsible for. Bear this in mind, and many of the failings commonly associated with this book will be of little bother to you. We can no more expect Speer to be 100 per cent honest and accurate about his own life than we can expect ourselves to be honest and accurate about our own.

Naturally, then, when we read an autobiography, we read it for something other than historical objectivity. We want to glimpse events from the author's own eyes, and we hope that perhaps if we read carefully between the lines we will see something of the author that he or she wouldn't have consciously revealed to us. In the case of a man associated with the worst evil in history, we won't tolerate denial or excuses, but we can't expect much more than impersonal details and quiet humility. When I read this book, I was satisfied on these points. He denied little, he never explicitly offered reasons or excuses, and he seldom tried to disassociate himself from events.

So, having addressed these predictable weaknesses, I can now offer the book some praise. It is very well-written and engaging, it is fascinating from a historical perspective, and it is most interesting to read a book on the Nazis written by a man who had been one of the most powerful Nazis of all. If this later point is your reason for reading this book, then you won't be disappointed. How many times in history has someone from so high up in the enemy's hierarchy survived with the writing skills to give us such a thorough look from the inside? From this perspective, we are exceptionally lucky to have this book. Speer may have omitted various points, and he might have been wrong at times, but these failings will be unobtrusive to most people baring the experts, and little can compare with a book that was written by a guy who in many ways was and will forever remain more expert than anyone who was not, like himself, so completely part of it. The book was remarkable for its personal insights on Hitler and much of his entourage. It was also intriguing for Speer's account of his own doings and concerns throughout his story. (In reference to the Allied bombing effort on German cities and munitions' factories, it was something to learn that Speer, as Armaments' Minister, worried more about the problems that raids on humble ball-bearings' factories would cause. Such raids, which never came, may have been decisive given the all-round necessity of these forgotten pearls.) The book is for anyone interested in WWII, and it remains a valued part of my book collection.

Do you want to see a portait of the man who led Germany and the world into the depths of hell? Speer paints a rarely seen portrait of the man who so many loved and hated, and he also gives the reader a clear portrayal of what the Third Reich looked like from the inside. Goerring, Goebbels, Borman, Eva and a host of others are here as well. I've never read a book on Hitler where I really felt I could see Hitler and the characters of his inner circle so close-up before. Whether you're interested in architecture, armaments production or Hitler's thoughts, and much more, there's something here for you. I do agree with the critics that Speer does a good job of glossing over his responsibilities concerning
the concentrations camps, but the book appears to be written quite accurately for the most part by someone (Speer) whom Hitler was more than a little fond of. A wonderful book regardless of how you personally feel about
Albert Speer.

I first read 'Inside the the Third Reich' at age 19 and the message of this book has been with me ever since. Quite simply it is a true fable of evil corrupting good. Throughout Speer's early account one almost feels that this could be anyone, at anytime. Only as world events change at an astouding pace around him, are we reminded that Speer lived in a Germany that was soon to be the home to one of the greatest evils the world had ever known. Speer tells us of the fateful night he first heard Hitler speak, and how he joined the Nazi party bare hours later. The portrait Speer paints of Hitler is not one of the evil demegouge that history would prove him to be, but rather one of an inspired leader who was doing all he could to lift his nation out of economic ruin and national despair. It was this illusion that Hitler projected that allowed good and honorable men, like Speer, to be corrupted. This is an entertaining book for any amatuer historian, and more, a very important one for anyone who wonders how a nation of philosiphers, and Christians, aritists and engineers, could sell it's very soul to evil.

Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich" ranks, in my opinion, among the three seminal books covering the history of Nazi Germany. (Albert Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and Heinze Hohne's "Order of the Death's Head" round out the group) This book excels where the others fail in its elegance and readability. Set up as a memoir of his life Albert Speer lucidly provides a very insider account of the Third Reich throughout the 1930's and through the war. Speer himself as an architect was extremely close to Hitler and often was in more intimate circles with him than Goering, Himmler, and Hess. The book is a fast read in spite of its large size. It is written for the casual reader though a general knowledge of German history is probably better. Overall however Speer's use of anecdotes and his style at large is indicative of his intellect and upper class upbringing. This book is certainly a must read for those interested in WWII and German history.

The book naturally begins with Speer's upbringing and education in Manheim. The author spends little time here though and within the first 25 pages we read how Speer casually became a party member, as did his mother, and how he first began to interact with the party. Here we have to be a little skeptical of his account of the story. He says quite emphatically that he did not join the party for through any political motivation yet in 1930, when he joined, the NSDAP did not have the extreme power it held a few years later. It seems unlikely that an architect who claimed to have little political motivation would go out of his way to join a workers party. Whatever his motivations were however he joined the party and before long he went from being an officer in the NSKK to taking on a few architectural projects for the party including redoing Joseph Goebbels' office and the decorations for Joseph von Hindenburg's funeral in 1934. By this time he was traveling with Hitler and realizing how captivated with architecture the Fuhrer was. His biggest achievement during these years was the building of the rally grounds at the zeppelin fields outside of Nuremburg. Hitler was extraordinarily pleased with Speer's work and by this time he was within his inner circle and required to wear a party uniform in public. It is around this time that he begins creating his expansive plans for Germania. Naturally the plans never resulted in any buildings but this plan became Hitler's hobby and made enforced Hitler's affinity for Speer. As peace became tenuous and war became inevitable Speer still holds on to the fact that he wasn't aware of the big picture. Yet within a few years he is named minister of armaments and certainly by this time he is aware. He shows and described his brilliance for logistics and his ability to make great judgments on the fly. Here we get even more fascinating accounts which you will have to read.

Overall, the book is the best insider source for the goings on at the very top of party and the high command. His tone is apologetic and honestly I do believe him. Early in the work he says how while in prison he re-read many of Hitler's speeches and found them utterly lifeless. This book is enlightening also in that it shows how disorganized and distracted the party really was both in the early days and throughout the war. Reading it becomes strikingly amazing that the party could even come to power when it was so factionalized. This book is a fascinating read and is very enjoyable. This is one that a historian or layman can enjoy equally. As the 60th anniversary of the end of the war approaches take some time and look back into those strange years.





Ted Murena

No figure emerged from the Second World War with greater controversy and attention than did Nazi architect and Hitler confidant Albert Speer. Sentenced to twenty years in the military prison in Spandau for war crimes, Speer was the only one of the principals tried at Nuremberg to admit his culpability in the horror that was the Third Reich. Many questioned his sincerity, for although he said all the right things, it was extremely self-serving to do so at the moment of final judgment, for his capitulation surely saved his life. Yet Speer served his twenty years and then was released to live out his life amidst even greater controversy, for Speer had kept a secret diary during his long confinement.

When published in 1969 in Germany, the diary, entitled "Recollections", caused a literal firestorm of controversy based on a range of observations and positions taken by Speer. Yet the book, released a year later in a translated version for the English-speaking world as "Inside The Third Reich" was a runaway best seller based primarily on the detailed and absolutely spellbinding descriptions Speer offered regarding the principals of the Nazi regime. His observations, tidbits, and anecdotes about Hitler himself were endlessly fascinating and occasioned a lot of dinner conversation all over the world. Likewise, his portrayal of the day to day life within the so-called Nazi elite gave reader s a graphic and telling account of what these people were like, and how it was possible that they could do so much of what they did.

It also established a pattern of denial of any real responsibility for what had happened on Speer's part. He claimed to have been only tangentially involved in what happened to the Jews, and that he never understood that the policy of deportation and relocation to `work camps' was part of a conspiracy to systematically murder all of Europe's Jews. Yet careful readers find that his role as Chief Administrator Of Armament Production, which employed slave labor by both Jews and other subjugated prisoners of war certainly had a systematic policy of working these slave laborers to death. As in later works such as "Spandau", a continuation of the diaries from that prison, he claimed to be less involved in the politics of the Third Reich than in the day to oversight of functional management of its policies.

This is a fascinating book, and one cannot help but to come to admire this man and his struggles to maintain his balance and his sanity during the two decades he was held at Spandau. It provides a penetrating look both at his own mental processes as well as sharing his ruminations about various details and aspects of life within the whirlwind of excitement, agony, and horror that the years of Nazi reign in Germany represent. This is a book I can highly recommend. Enjoy!

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.