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Speer: The Final Verdict

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Albert Speer has proved to be a lasting enigma for historians, and of continued interest to the public. This is not the first book written about Speer, and contrary to the title it will not be the last. I found the book to be well done, and while it does bring some new detail to the life of Speer it is not a book that provides any fundamental shifts in generally accepted facts.

There are at least two troubling issues that I found worthy of note. The first is a certain arrogance of the author during his introduction when he expresses the opinion that there has not been a proper biography written of Speer. The author is certainly an authority on Speer and had an unusual opportunity to work with and get to know the man as much or more than any other writer. I have read several biographies of Speer, and two of Speer's own works, and there is a great deal of biographic writing available, and it is not as lacking as the author suggests. Issue number 2 is that the author uses David Irving as a reference and also refers to him as a historian. David Irving has been the subject of books, and a man who was handed a miserable defeat in a courtroom in England that condemned him as a dubious historian but perhaps a good researcher, and confirmed that his views of Nazi Germany were largely revisionist and without documentary facts. David Irving may be a researcher, he may even gather accurate information, no where have I read of any legitimate historian grant the same honor and respect to Irving, in fact his is considered little more than a demagogue. His associations with groups that wish to minimize the Holocaust to the point of triviality, if they admit to it at all is well documented, and why Mr. Fest would quote him from all the available sources is a mystery.

The author describes Speer as a man with many abilities, but no qualities. This is one of the better summations of Speer that I have read. Others have also correctly characterized him, as John Kenneth Galbraith did, as a very intelligent escapist from the truth. And the words that head these comments are those of Speer himself.

The book is based on the premise that it is men like Speer that allow the rise of tyrants like Hitler, Stalin, and the balance of history's representatives of evil. That the tyrants are routinely produced by history, but only those who have a massive supporting cast that are willing to follow, that are willing to selectively see only what they choose to view, and who place ambition above all else, are necessary for the rise of such dictators.

The issue that continues to fascinate me is Speer's escape from execution at Nuremberg, He clearly cooperated with the allies to a degree that no other defendant did, and he at least gave the impression of remorse, and played a brilliant game of saying he was responsible for crimes that were committed, but not guilty as he lacked specific knowledge. This is the same charade that allows a defendant in this country to be found not guilty in a court of criminal law, and then to be held responsible in a court of civil law.

Speer deserved to hang as much as any of those who actually had the courage to accept their sentence without taking the coward's way out like the Reich Marshall. There is no question that his brilliant organizational skills, and his willingness to accept labor from anywhere that was collected by any means, allowed the war to continue for years longer that it might have without his talents. The idea that Speer knew nothing of the camps while being arguably the closest of friends and confidants of Hitler is preposterous, and it is amazing anyone was able to delude himself or herself otherwise.

The other concept I am tired of reading is of the alleged erotic but not carnal relationship between Hitler and Speer. Hitler had wanted to be an architect like Speer since he was a very young man. The two men shared a passion for building and art, and their age differences would suggest a father and son relationship, but taking it to the next level may be sensational, but again I find it tiresome, absurd, and a position that is prurient but unproven.

I enjoyed the book with the exceptions that I have noted, I don't believe the book broke any important new ground, and will certainly not be the last book about Albert Speer. The Germany of the Nazis continues to fascinate, and until it ceases to do so books will be continually written.

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 authors 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 naïve 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!

I found this book to be one of the more perceptive books I have read on members of Hitler's inner circle. Albert Speer as many of the previous reviewers have already wrote, proves to be a great mystery. However, the author provides some very interesting insights to Speer's rather naive but contradictory asute behavior during the time he serves for Hitler.

The book proves to be very readable and easy to get into. Its provides a very informative picture of Albert Speer without overwhelming you with mindless details and gives a clear idea what kind of man Speer was, before, during and after the Third Reich.

Its interesting that of all the individuals of Hitler's inner circle, Speer was intellectually, culturally and morally above the rest but Fest make it understood that Speer had some sort of psychological blinder on and spent much of his post-World War life with that blinder still partially on. From what Fest wrote, it seem that Speer suffered from some sort of a self-imposed martyrdom at Nuremberg.

Interesting book and well worth the effort to read, I thought I knew Speer a bit better now then before.

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 was something of an anomaly among the top personalities of the Third Reich, in that he was highly intelligent, nonideological, highly competent, and sophisticated. He also seemed to be significantly more self-deluded as regards the nature of the criminal regime he so faithfully served than were the more self-consciously guilty perps that formed the inner circle of Hitlerite Germany.

Speer's autogiographical works are all worthwhile reading, but not if one wants to form a well-formed opinion of the man himself; no autobiography is reliable for that. The previous full-length treatments of Speer do not fully cover the subject, his life and career, but rather focus on the nature of his war guilt, or on his veracity at Nuremberg, in his version of events, and so on. Fest sets out to give the reader a full and level appraisal of the man.

What emerges is Speer as a product of his times and circumstances. He emerges as a relative unknown plucked from obscurity by a Hitler already Chancellor, and carried along in his wake. Hitler's life-long interest in art and architecture form the basis of their friendship and business relationship (though Hitler, true to form, keeps other architects in the fold as well). As the war arrives, and circumstances change, Speer is given more and more responsibility, then with the death of Fritz Todt (in unresolved circumstances, Todt's children pointing the finger at an assassination of which they feel Speer must have known) Speer comes into his own full role as armaments minister and shortly economic dictator of the Reich. Throughout he claims political indifference, indeed ignorance (not especially believably). The scene moves to Nuremberg, Spandau, release and unexpectedly conflicted freedom, then death. Who was this man?

Fest's book is lavishly illustrated with many excellent photographs, is well written and thoroughly researched throughout. One learns a lot about Speer the man, but one finally cannot put one's finger on the essence of the man himself. In Speer's various books, interviews, and personal musings, one comes away thinking that Speer himself did not truly know who he was.

An excellent addition to the literature.

Albert Speer lived from 1905 to 1981. In 1927 he received an architecture license. He joined the Nazi party in January of 1931 after hearing Hitler speak at a Berlin rally in 1930. He was Hitler's chief architect from 1933 to the end of the war, and minister of armaments and war production from 1942 to the end of the war. In 1946 he was sentenced at the Nuremberg War Trials to 20 years imprisonment in Spandau prison, in West Berlin. He was released in 1966.

I enjoyed the author's book The Face Of The Third Reich: Portraits Of The Nazi Leadership, and have long been curious about Speer, but knew little about him. This book does not delve as much into the psychology of its subject as I had hoped (the author, Fest, did do this for the subjects in the other book) but it is a good overview of Speer's rise to influence and power, the infighting and distrust that went on around Speer, and the ups and downs of Speer's friendship with Hitler.

I am trying to write a review of this book but inevitably every attempt ends up being mostly about Speer and my conviction that such an intelligent, shrewd and powerful individual simply could not have been in the dark about the "Final Solution". This book is a very powerful indictment and a must read for any serious world history reader. Besides solidifying my beliefs about Speer, it is a powerful glimpse into the dark side of human nature, an eerie reminder of how easily humans are corrupted by ambition and thirst for power. Judging by the recent events in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sudan one can only hope that no powerful nation will ever turn the way of Nazi Germany, since there is no shortage of power-thirsty, ambitious people that refuse to learn from history.

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.

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.

The subtitle of this work is `The Final Verdict,' a promise on which the author largely (not totally) delivers. Most facts are artfully exposed but, given Speer, can anything be final? I recently revisited this book with pleasure (I first read it in hardcover 2001) after rereading Speer's `Inside the Third Reich.'

Fest's expansive biography is a good companion to Gitta Sereny's `Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth,' an account that exposes the man (good and bad) like his confessor (and still the most insightful account). What Sereny lacks in background, Fest supplies.

Fest also uniquely emphasizes the intimate relationship between Speer and Hitler. Speer (born 1905) was possibly the only real friendship Hitler (born 1889) ever formed, replete with insane plans for a `Germania' that promised users a lifeless city of symbols, conquest, and death. `Germania' was Hitler's vision of a fantastic urban (world) necropolis, and Speer was his willing `creative' spouse.

Well-illustrated, highly recommended.

Those seriously interested in the subject should also consult:
Gitta Sereny: `Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth'
Albert Speer: `Inside the Third Reich' and `Spandau'
Dan Van Der Vat: `The Good Nazi: The Life and Lies of Albert Speer'
JK Galbraith: `Name-Dropping' (an account of Speer after 1945 interviews)
George W. Ball: `The Past Has Another Pattern' (Speer after 1945 interviews)
GM Gilbert: `Nüremberg Diaries' (Speer at Nüremberg).