Product Description

Albert Speer was Hitler's architect before the Second World War. Through Hitler's great trust in him and Speer's own genius for organisation he became, effectively from 1942 overlord of the entire war economy, making him the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. Sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Spandau Prison at the Nuremberg Trails, Speer attempted to progress from moral extinction to moral self-education. How he came to terms with his own acts and failures to act and his real culpability in Nazi war crimes are the questions at the centre of this book. The author had access to Speer, his family and friends and his private papers. After twelve years of research and writing after Speer's death the result is one of the most inimate, and best informed books on Hitler and the Third Reich. Gitta Sereny's previous books include the masterful international success, Into that Darkness, on Franz Stangl, commandant of the Treblinka death camp. `This is a book not to be missed by anyone interested in Nazi Germany or, for that matter, in the complexity of human behaviour.' - Alan Bullock, author of Hitler: A Study in Tyranny 'Required reading for anyone who wants to get inside the working of the Third Reich.' - Ian Kershaw

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #355673 in Books
• Published on: 1995-09-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 800 pages

Review
This book chronicles Albert Speer's struggle with his own soul and with the collective German guilt that is Hitler's legacy. From the first moment Sereny set eyes on Speer at the Nuremberg trial, she was fascinated and spent the next four years getting to know him which led to 12 years of research. Albert Speer (1905-81) born into the German upper bourgeoisie, joined the Nazi party in 1931, met Hitler by chance, and became one of his close intimates, first in charge of a colossal rebuilding of Berlin, then (1942-5) as Minister for Armaments. So this is not only an intimate insight into the man himself, this is an exceptionally well-informed book on Hitler, the Third Reich and its terrible effects as seen through the eyes of an extraordinary man. Not an easy read, but one worth every moment for it contains a series of ghastly reminders of what the Nazi regime was like, and what Nazi domination of the world would have meant; coupled with the author's constant inquiry - how could sane and moral men and women behave as they did? It highlights the struggle between good and evil in humanity and in the end Sereny wrung out of Speer an expression of awareness that, she thinks, would have brought him a death sentence at Nuremberg instead of the 20 years he served in Spandau. (Kirkus UK)

A monumental attempt to pierce the facade of lies, deceit, evasions, and half-truths erected by Hitler's favorite architect and minister of armaments and war production in the Third Reich. Sereny (The Invisible Children, 1985, etc.) here continues a project that began with Into That Darkness, her work on Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka, trying to explain the capacity of men to commit horrendous crimes. Speer, who died in 1981, evolves as a much more human and complex character than the stereotypical Nazi, although he is no less a grotesque and in some ways even more frightening. At the heart of the work are years of personal interviews with her subject, who was released from prison in 1966; the interviews are compelling not just in what they reveal about Speer, but in how Sereny responds to him. Behind "those dark intelligent eyes," she felt, lay "a real literary talent"; yet it was a first-rate mind that masked the absence of a soul. Speer claimed to have no knowledge of the mass exterminations taking place in Eastern Europe, insisting to the end that he found out about the camps only at his trial in Nuremburg. Yet here was a master of detail and a genius of organization; how could the immense effort to exterminate the Jews have possibly escaped his attention? Sereny, to her credit, does not impose her judgment until the end, where she argues that Speer was living a "Great Lie"; morally blind to the evil of the Nazis, unable to comprehend or acknowledge his love of the Fuehrer (a love that was not without its erotic aspect), and fully aware of the murder of the Jews, Speer somehow managed to convince himself that he knew nothing. More than a biography or an attempt to prove guilt, this is a struggle to understand how evil seduced a modern Faust. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

A study in deception
This book is superbly researched and thorough. It is also tremendously exciting and sustains a level of analysis which brings not only Speer but the whole of that period into sharp focus. With the new A2 History exams involving synoptic papers which have as their starting the analysis of documentary evidence this book is an absolute must for the able student. Quite apart from Speer's equivocations about the fate of the Jews and his knowledge of such matters, the study offers views on the other key figures in the story and their roles. The debate about Hitler and his dealings with his henchmen is superbly illustrated. Gita Seregny leaves no doubt about the centrality of Hitler, but opens up very interesting reflections on the rest, especially Himmler and Bormann. The vicious infighting after 1943 is described with great detail and irony.The book pauses from time to time with reflections that cover a whole gamut of other issues.... which themselves are sufficiently penetrating to invite further study. A true piece of academic research and a tremendous read in the process.

An attempt to understand the myth and reality of Speer
Albert Speer was undoubtedly an enigma and Gitta Sereny tries her hardest to unravel his mysteries. Speer seemed a mass of contradictions, and I finished this book still undecided as to his character. I felt the book presents him as an actor who seldom showed his true face. Compelling. You find yourself willing Sereny to condemn him, but she treats her subject with fairness and respect - whether he deserved it or not. What more could you ask of a biographer?

Perceptive, challenging and beautifully written.
This is more than jut a book, it is an experience. Never have I been so eager to get to the next page, and at the same time absorb all the information on the page I was currently reading. This story of the man, Speer, was all the more convincing as it looked past his apologies to the victims of the Third Reich, and tried to find out what made him follow Hitler so zealously. At the same time it gives one a valuable insight into Hitler's court, Himmler, Goebbels etc., and their interactions, ambitions and personalities. This is a fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.