Product Description

Albert Speer is the great Enigma of Nazi Germany. Before he was thirty he had become Hitler's architect. Soon he was building the new Reich's Chancellory and had transformed the Nuremberg rallies with his cathedrals of light' and gift for stage management. In 1942 Hitler appointed him his Armaments Minister and Speer quadrupled German arms production, keeping the German Army in the field and prolonging the war. Joachim Fest examines all the phases of Speer's life and work. Precisely because of Speer's contradictions, Fest sees him as representative of the mood and susceptibilities of the German people of the time. In this brilliant and persuasive book Fest argues that Albert Speer's life helps to explain how Germany broke with its traditions in 1933 and descended so far into crime and barbarism. This book is a crowning achievement for the writer who pioneered a new school of biographical writing in the 1960s with his Face of the Third Reich and his masterly Hitler biography, which has become a classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #510768 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
Joachim Fest remains one of the most acute chroniclers of the dark period of history that is Nazi Germany, and this fastidious study of the Reich's greatest architect is a monumental achievement. What particularly distinguishes the book is the author's even-handedness regarding Speer and his work; as with Leni Riefenstahl, the important distinction between the genius of the work and the ambiguous relationship of the creator with monumental evil is handled with sensitivity. Speer remains an enigma: before he was 30, he had become Hitler's architect, and had transformed the Nuremberg rallies with his 'cathedrals of light' and his gift for stage-management. His spell as armaments minister quadrupled German arms production and may be said to have prolonged the war. There are those who point to his never being part of the Fuhrer's inner circle, while historians such as Hugh Trevor-Roper have described him as 'the true criminal of Nazi Germany'. As a picture of a complex man working in a monstrous regime, this is both compelling and dispassionate.

About the Author
Joachim Fest was born in Berlin in 1926 and educated in Freiburg, Frankfurt and Berlin. After the war, in which he served and was taken prisoner, he worked in radio and television before becoming a full-time writer. Following Speer's release from Spandau Prison in 1966, Fest worked closely with him as the general editor of Speer's memoirs Inside the Third Reich (1970) and Spandau: The Secret Diaries (1976). Fest's biography of Hitler is generally regarded as the finest biography of the German dictator in any language. He has been awarded numerous prizes for his historical writing.

Customer Reviews

Good on sources, but no 'final verdict'
Alongside the works on Speer such as those by Sereny and Van Der Vat, this biography is simply that: a biography. It is not as thorough as the former, nor as entertaining as the latter. Fest steers a course that although quite sub-textually (and in places overtly) is 'pro-Speer' guides the reader quite swiftly through Speer's professional life.
If Sereny's excellent 'Battle With The Truth' is vast and impartial, and Van Der Vat in 'The Good Nazi' almost swinging the executioners axe in fury, the this is the Biography that Speer, were he still alive would have endorsed. Fest's relationship with his subject began upon his release from Spandau when Fest 'assisted' him with writing 'Inside...' and '... Secret Diaries'. The larger part of this biography is based upon the extensive notes Fest took at that time (recently published in Germany as 'Unanswerable Questions') and this is the books main asset.
However, it fails in that there is no 'Final Verdict' as it claims, and the prose is a little pedantic, to say the least. If you are new to Speer, I suggest Sereny's book. If you are familiar to him, this book is little more than a useful addition to the still expanding Speer 'legend'.