The rockets were researched at a facility in Peenemnde along with the V-1 flying bomb. Martin Kitchen, writing in Speer: Hitler's Architect, stated that much of the increase in Germany's arms production was actually due to systems instituted by Speer's predecessor (Fritz Todt) and furthermore that Speer was intimately involved in the "Final Solution". Albert Speer, (born March 19, 1905, Mannheim, Baden, Germanydied September 1, 1981, London, England), German architect who was Adolf Hitler's chief architect (1933-45) and minister for armaments and war production (1942-45). He was charged with planning for war, planning a war of aggression, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Before that, Speer worked as the chief architect in Hitler's Nazi . - London, 1. rujna 1981.) [86] On 1 August 1944, Speer merged the Fighter Staff into a newly formed Armament Staff committee. This was probably the start of the downfall of the Reich. [41] He completed the preliminary work for the new chancellery by May 1936. [70], Speer realized that with six million workers drafted into the armed forces, there was a labor shortage in the war economy, and not enough workers for his factories. Despite his opposition to the 20 July plot, he falsely claimed in his memoirs to have been sympathetic to the plotters. "[3], On the other hand, in a 1973 Bryn Mawr College review, Barbara Miller Lane wrote, "Scholars have observed so many gaps in his account of the operation of his ministry as to shed considerable doubt on the whole. The journalist described an invented scenario in which Speer had refused Hitler's orders and Hitler had left with tears in his eyes. [1]:314320, Speer describes Wunderwaffen such as the Me 262 project, flying wing jet planes, a remote-controlled flying bomb, a rocket plane, a rocket missile based on infrared homing, designs for a four-motored jet bomber with the range to strike New York, and a torpedo based on sonar. "[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. First Architect of the Third Reich. Reporters and photographers crowded both the street outside Spandau and the lobby of the Hotel Berlin where Speer spent the night. "[118], Speer was credited with an "armaments miracle". He suffered a stroke and died in London on 1 September. Speer (Albert Speer's brother) and his life. After hearing Hitler speak at a Berlin . Described by associates as ice cold. Speer liked the scenario so much that he wrote it into his memoirs. He admitted only to being uncomfortable around Jews in the published version of the Spandau Diaries. [79] This belief proved incorrect, and Speer and Merker's attempt to build the Kriegsmarine's new generation of submarines, the Type XXI and Type XXIII, as prefabricated sections at different facilities rather than at single dockyards contributed to the failure of this strategically important program. 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. In June 1936 he charged a personal honorarium of 30,000 Reichsmark and estimated the chancellery would be completed within three to four years. by punktlich02 29 Oct 2009, 11:35, Return to The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section. - London, Anglia, 1981. szeptember 1.) Victoria married. [citation needed], At the Nuremberg Trials, Speer was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his use of prisoners in the armaments factories while Minister of Armaments. [126] In Spandau Diaries, Speer aimed to present himself as a tragic hero who had made a Faustian bargain for which he endured a harsh prison sentence. There were so many corpses at the Dora underground factory, for example, that the crematorium was overwhelmed. [74] In occupied areas of the Soviet Union, that had been subject to partisan action, civilian men and women were rounded up en masse and sent to work forcibly in Germany. 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. Speer provided Hitler with a memorandum on 15 March, which detailed Germany's dire economic situation and sought approval to cease demolitions of infrastructure. Albert Speer was the Nazi Party's chief architect, a close confidant of Adolf Hitler and the brains behind the Nazi military production machine. [1]:488498,569, Speer's involvement with concentration camp prisoners as a work force came about when Hitler agreed to Himmler's proposal they be used for the secret V-2 project. Once Speer became aware of the existence of the fund, he sent detailed instructions about what to do with the money. [132] Willy Brandt was an advocate of his release,[133] putting an end to the de-Nazification proceedings against him,[134] which could have caused his property to be confiscated. After he failed to do so, his father gave him a part-time job as manager of his properties. [45] Kristallnacht accelerated Speer's ongoing efforts to dispossess Berlin's Jews from their homes. 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. Land had been purchased by the end of 1934 and starting in March 1936 the first buildings were demolished to create space at Vostrae. [38] The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the postponement, and later the abandonment, of these plans. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to 20 years in prison. On 27 January 1938, Speer received plenipotentiary powers from Hitler to finish the new chancellery by 1 January 1939. This delayed the program, and Speer was unable to remedy the situation. He was acquitted on the other two counts. . It is considered to be one of the most detailed descriptions of the inner workings and leadership of Nazi Germany but is controversial because of Speer's lack of discussion of Nazi atrocities and questions regarding . For the television film based on the book, see, :55,71,7879,83,105,115116,138,188,651,674,696, Sarah Word from the British film magazine ", Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inside_the_Third_Reich&oldid=1132240858, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 23:15. Hitler commissioned him to design and construct structures including the Reich Chancellery and the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg. [52] Speer's building work made him among the wealthiest of the Nazi elite. When asked by his Allied captors in 1945 to what extent German military strategy had been influenced by economic considerations, Albert Speer, Hitler's armaments minister, replied that in the case of OperationBarbarossathe need for oil was certainly a prime motive. Indeed, even during initial discussions of his plan to invade the Soviet Union, Hitler had stressed the absolute necessity of . [113] Speer was indicted on four counts: participating in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crime against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. William. Contributor: C. Peter Chen ww2dbase Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer was born in Mannheim, Germany, into a wealthy middle class family to Albert and Luise Speer. On 20 July 1942, Speer was enrolled by order of Heinrich Himmler as a SS Man/member of. [1]:506,699701. Though stockpiling of materials and other work continued, this slowed to a halt as more resources were needed for the armament industry. His father, who died in 1947, despised the Nazis and was silent upon meeting Hitler. [135] Speer's efforts for an early release came to naught. After one of these briefings, Hitler invited Speer to lunch, to the architect's great excitement. Speer's Heidelberg school offered rugby football, unusual for Germany, skiing, and Speer was a participant. It became instrumental in exploiting slave labor for the benefit of the German war effort. Paradoxically, when Speer died in 1981, he was described by the New York Times as a . Concerned about retaining power, he did not appoint a deputy and continued to direct work of the Armaments Ministry from his bedside. Speer's joint undertaking with the SS leadership resulted in the creation of Mittelwerk (Central Works) for underground production of the V-2. In 1918, moved to Schloss-Wolfsbrunnenweg, Heidelberg, Germany. Speer described the personalities of many Nazi officials, including Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Gring, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Martin Bormann, and, of course, Hitler himself. Stars Laurence Olivier Averell Harriman Albert Speer See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist 120 User reviews 5 Critic reviews Top rated TV #14 Men da Moritz Schramm var barn, var det et andet blik, han havde p morfaren. [95], Losses of territory and a dramatic expansion of the Allied strategic bombing campaign caused the collapse of the German economy from late 1944. As an example, he wanted to be given power over all armaments issues under Hermann Gring's Four Year Plan. [117], Speer was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, principally for the use of slave labor and forced labor. [171] Brechtken said Speer only admitted to a generalized responsibility for the Holocaust to hide his direct and actual responsibility. [9] In 1925, he transferred again, this time to the Technical University of Berlin where he studied under Heinrich Tessenow, whom Speer greatly admired. [148] In October 1973, he made his first trip to Britain, flying to London to be interviewed on the BBC Midweek programme. After serving. [77] His close relationship with Hitler provided him with political protection, and he was able to outwit and outmaneuver his rivals in the regime. I am sure that an oppressive feeling struck me as I drove past. Little remains of his personal architectural work. Then it was too late; Germany had been destroyed. He lost Hitler's unconditional support and began to lose power. [82] In mid-January 1944, Speer had a lung embolism and fell seriously ill. alberts side and was generally desribed as a wastrel. [80], In December 1943, Speer visited Organisation Todt workers in Lapland, while there he seriously damaged his knee and was incapacitated for several months. Entrance to Spandau Prison, 1951. In response, Hitler appointed Fritz Sauckel as a "manpower dictator" to obtain new workers. No buildings designed by Speer during the Nazi era are extant in Berlin, other than the 4 entrance pavilions and underpasses leading to the Victory Column or Siegessule,[180] and the Schwerbelastungskrper, a heavy load-bearing body built around 1941. Speer's desperate mother called Speer . [178] The production of armaments did go up; however, this was due to the normal causes of reorganization before Speer came to office, the relentless mobilization of slave labor and a deliberate reduction in the quality of output to favor quantity. "[4] His brothers, Ernst and Hermann, bullied him throughout his childhood. Many more buildings were planned. By Thomas Rogers 23 May 2017 [174] Heinrich Breloer, discussing the construction of Auschwitz, said Speer was not just a cog in the workhe was the "terror itself". The Battle of Stalingrad was a brutal military campaign between Russian forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers during World War II. Stalingrad was a classic example where he refused to provide the equipment necessary to supply his army on the Eastern front during the terrible winter of 1941. 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. This movie is based on Speer's autobiography of the same name. by. [5] Wolters and longtime Speer secretary Annemarie Kempf, while not permitted direct communication with Speer in Spandau, did what they could to help his family and carry out the requests Speer put in letters to his wifethe only written communication he was officially allowed. 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. When the commission was completed, Speer returned to Mannheim and remained there as Hitler took office in January1933. Minister for Armaments. [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. "It is not charity; I don't like that . He coveted control of the production of armaments for the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine as well. Albert Speer (Mannheim, Nmetorszg, 1905. mrcius 19. This led to the development of Germany's first cyclotron. [109] Speer was disappointed that Hitler had not selected him as his successor. 46.104 since 1942 - according to himself he declined all Ehrenrnge offered, but in the end accepted the Rank of a SS-Mann. shelved 32,158 times. Hitler's cabinet was dismayed at his tactics, but, regardless, he was able to accumulate new responsibilities and more power. This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjernes Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day. [96] In January 1945, Speer told Goebbels that armaments production could be sustained for at least a year. [138] He said little, reserving most comments for a major interview published in Der Spiegel in November 1966. He studied under Bestelmeyer, Billing, and Tessenow, and rose to prominence on the death of Troost, becoming Adolf Hitler's (1889-1945) friend, confidant, and architect from 1934.His interest in archaeology led him to evolve a style of architecture that would be as expressive as anything left by Ancient Rome, and his . According to Speer's daughter Hilde Schramm, "One by one my sister and brothers gave up. Carefully measuring distance travelled each day, he mapped distances to the real-world geography. For propaganda Hitler claimed during the topping-out ceremony on 2 August 1938, that he had ordered Speer to complete the new chancellery that year. Albert Speer was a young architect initially seduced by the speeches and rhetoric of Hitler. This criticism is mainly presented by the documentary film "Speer Goes to Hollywood" by the director Vanessa Lapa. A speech by Albert Speer (there is an account of this speech in Albert Speer, Erinnerungen [Berlin, 1969], p. 325) was followed by speeches of his deputies: Willy Schliecker, the expert on American rearmament; Walther Rohland, the head of Panzer production; Karl Frydag, who was in charge of aircraft building; and Otto Merker, who was . On May 15th, 1945, the Americans captured Speer and quizzed him on the success or otherwise of the Allied bombing campaign. [50], As Germany started World War II in Europe, Speer instituted quick-reaction squads to construct roads or clear away debris; before long, these units would be used to clear bomb sites. The building was able to hold 340,000 people. After the war, Speer was among the 24 "major war criminals" arrested and charged with the crimes of the Nazi regime at the Nuremberg trials. It was only on the urgent advice of his publisher that he added a mention of seeing the ruins of the Central Synagogue in Berlin from his car. Progress was slow because fuel was rationed and Army Group A were given priority. He set about extending his power and influence with unexpected ambition. An upcoming BBC documentary is set to highlight the remarkable story of Albert Goering the brother of Nazi minister and air force chief Hermann Goering who is said to have saved hundreds of. August 1, 2017. Despite this opposition, the two married in Berlin on 28 August 1928; seven years elapsed before Margarete was invited to stay at her in-laws' home. Rereading Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich". They're private residences. Secured early release from prison, became a media celebrity and successfully cultivated the "clean Speer" myth. Despised the Nazis and was silent upon meeting Hitler on 27 January 1938, Speer worked as chief. Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg space at Vostrae to have albert speer brother stalingrad sympathetic to the architect great. 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