Customer Reviews

Inside the Third Reich

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I met Albert Speer...And this was book that made me want to meet him - this and "Spandau - The Secret Diaries".

Just after Christmas in 1979 I went to see Speer at his Heidelberg home in West Germany. I had gone to interview him for BBC radio. The trip was carried out in secret. Only a couple of BBC managers, who approved the enterprise, knew what I was doing. And I told no-one until the programmes were broadcast. I went alone - no companions, or production team - just me and Speer alone in his Heidelberg study with a tape recorder running. I met him four times, recording long interviews for six half-hour programmes called "The Hitler Years". You can hear extracts on the BBC website.

So why did "Inside the Third Reich" make such an impression and make me want to meet its author? Because the book changed the way I thought about Hitler. It was the first I'd read that made Hitler seem a plausible human being. Some people say this is wrong. They argue anything that humanises Hitler is improper. He was a monster. All that matters are his crimes.

The trouble with this argument is that it makes Hitler impossible to understand - just a raving lunatic who gormless Germans - not intelligent people like us! - mindlessly followed. But Hitler was more subtle and intelligent than people allow - an evil genius with a surprising amount of twisted knowledge, well read and an extensive interest in the arts. His only weapons to begin with were his voice - he was highly articulate and persuasive - and a superhuman will-power. Hitler claimed he was the greatest actor in Europe. One of his adjutants said even in private it was impossible to tell when he was acting, or sincere. The performance was flawless. He was very convincing.

Speer was aware of the problems after the war while languishing in Spandau jail. There he spent 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity. On 10 February 1947 he wrote in his diary, 'I get the impression that people are increasingly representing Hitler as a dictator given to raging uncontrollably and biting the rug even on the slightest pretexts. This seems to me a false and dangerous course. If the human features are going to be missing from the portrait of Hitler, if his persuasiveness, his engaging characteristics, and even the Austrian charm he could trot out are left out of the reckoning, no faithful picture of his will be achieved.'

Anti-Semitism may have been a driving force in Hitler's life, but initially he seemed to offer the German people much more - a glittering future. No more unemployment - stability, order. He would crackdown on Communists and introduce a Socialist-style state open to talent with no class divisions. Anyone, it seemed, could rise to the top (unless you were Jewish, gay, Slav, or black). He was going to tear up the hated Treaty of Versailles and restore Germany's dignity and honour. There were wonderful ceremonies, designer uniforms, the Olympic games - a life of endless events and fun. A heady mix! Speer, like so many Germans, was carried away with the excitement and the architectural opportunities Hitler gave him.

Authors are sometimes different from the image they project in their books. So what was Speer like? The Albert Speer I met and spent hours talking to was exactly like the man in his books.

But how honest was Speer? Speer was honest where you'd expect him to be, and dishonest where you'd expect him to be. So don't expect the whole truth on slave labour, the persecution of the Jews, or the Holocaust. He would have ended up on the gallows if he'd revealed all. But Speer was good on the atmosphere round Hitler. He was good on the dictator and his Court, the feel of Nazi Germany, architecture, strategy and armaments. Here he provides real insights and makes a valuable contribution to history and our understanding of the Third Reich. Hugh Trevor-Roper used him as a major source for his book "The Last Days of Hitler".

'Did you like Albert Speer?' a Jewish friend once asked me. '"Like," is the wrong word,' I replied. 'Speer was amiable and easy to work with when I was interviewing him - more so than some of the people I've worked with in the BBC, Fleet Street and publishing, let alone my own father - a notably tricky character. There was none of the old arrogance people complained about when he was in power. He was modest, relaxed and had a good, if disconcerting, sense of humour.

But villains often appear quite normal. On the surface they're like us - not blood-drenched like characters in a Hammer horror film. Many of the senior Nazis had a good education. There was nothing in Himmler's background that suggested he would become one of the most horrifying and reviled men of all time. His daughter adored her kind, gentle, smiling, papa.

Yet you still hear people asking, 'Do you think there could ever be another Hitler?' as if the Nazi dictator were a one off. In truth he was a spectacular example of a type of leader who is always with us. Chairman Mao slaughtered even more people than Hitler - 70 million people. He was the greatest genocidal murderer in history, though for some reason people blame him less.

Speer's book should be read in conjunction with his "Spandau - The Secret Diaries" and Frederic Spotts's remarkable work "Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics". There the author argues Hitler's interest in the arts was as intense as his racism. It affected the way he behaved and ruled and explains why intelligent people such as Speer fell under his spell. Like Speer's books it will change the way you look at the Nazi dictator and make him more understandable.

At the end of my interviews with Speer a curious incident occurred. While we were waiting for my taxi to arrive and take me back to my hotel we sat back and relaxed. To fill in gap in the conversation I casually asked him a question. If he could live his life over again which would he prefer to be - a nonentity with and easy conscience, or somebody famous who was troubled by what he'd done? The reply seemed obvious and I never bothered to ask the question during our interviews. Speer's answer was startling. 'I would prefer to be famous,' he replied.

Strangely enough no-one, not even Gitta Sereny in her exhaustive 700-page book, picked this up even though it's been in the public domain since 1980. Anthony Howard, who then edited the BBC magazine called "The Listener", published it in the magazine along with extended extracts from the interviews.

I think it was a moment of revelation.

Speer's book was published in German in 1969 under the title Eurinnerugen by Verlag Ullistein Gmbh, and was translated by Richard and Clara Winston for MacMillan in 1970.

The introduction to the MacMillan English version was written by Eugene Davidson. After reading the introduction, I decided to check out Eugene Davidson because he seems quite sympathetic to Albert Speer who uncharacteristically pleaded guilty at Nuremberg. Eugene Davidson has published a number of books on the topic of Hitler's Germany, including one with the rather ponderous title "The Trial of the Germans: An Account of the Twenty-Two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg." Davidson is rather sympathetic to the defendants, or at least felt that it was unfair to have trials of people who were simply fighting for their country. He seems to buy the defense that "I was only following orders."

Disregard the introduction by Davidson, and let Speer's words speak for themselves. There is an explanation for Speer's seemingly photographic memory. The book was written in less than ideal conditions while Speer was a prisoner at Spandau, and was smuggled from prison on scraps of paper, a little at a time. This suggests Speer had no access to a well stocked library while writing the original manuscript. However, the first edition was not published until 1969, three years after his release. So, Speer and his editors had three years to completely rewrite the book from the original manuscript.

The MacMillan English edition has 54 pages of footnotes. Some are very detailed. As a random example, Footnote 1 to Chapter 5 is reproduced below:

1. "Writing in 1787, Goethe suggested in Iphigenie on Tarus that even "the best man" finally "becomes accustomed to cruelty" and "in the end makes a law of that which he despises"; habit makes him "hard and almost unknowable."

Notes such as the above, along with the very specific wartime production figures cited in the book, suggests that a lot of work and revision went into Speer's book during the period 1966 to 1969.

I read the book with this in mind, and was constantly on the look out for attempts by Speer at self-aggrandizement, or at least, self-justification. Some of his statements put me in mind of the line from Hamlet: "The lady doth protest too much, Methinks." He freely admits guilt on fairly minor points, but claims complete lack of political influence on domestic affairs, or of the plight of the concentration camp prisoners. I think that Speer's claim to have fallen under the "spell of Hitler" may be disingenuous and self-serving.

We must not forget that Speer was an Architect first, and an Armaments Minister second, although he admits to being hooked on the power of being the #2 man in Germany for a while. There are places in the book where he takes credit for improving the conditions and saving the lives of slave laborers. He does seem conflicted on this point, however, because in other places he clams to have been indifferent to the plight of those in his armaments plants.

My final conclusion is that Mr. Speer attempted to place himself in the most favorable historical perspective possible. As he states, he would have been happier leaving great architectural monuments to posterity.

In 1989, during my Peace Corps service, I came across the book "INSIDE THE THIRD REICH" quite by surprise and could not put it down. I read it for hours nonstop.

The story that Speer relates here of his life and career in the Third Reich, first as Hitler's architect, and later as the Minister for Armaments and War Production (1942-1945) is gripping and compelling. You get a real, tangible sense of what the people (e.g. Goering, Hess, Himmler, Goebbels, Bormann, etc.) were like who played key roles in Nazi Germany.

This memoir does not read like a dry retelling of historical events. You feel yourself a witness to an unfolding drama of deceit, treachery, genocide, and war in the heart of the Third Reich. All of these events may seem incredible as Speer describes them. But they happened, and in reading "INSIDE THE THIRD REICH", you see how it was that Germany was led down the path to destruction by its political leadership.

During a reading week in my first year at college, when the dorms were empty and I had nothing to do, I took my laptop to the bottom floor of the library and tucked myself away in the most cut-off, cluttered, quiet corner to work on some papers. I had discovered that the secret to high marks on the essays for one of my professors was to use the thickest, most daunting books for my research. He liked seeing those monster tomes showing up in our bibliographies. So, after I had settled into my spot in the silent, deserted library I found the section relevant to my paper and began searching for the thickest books I could find.

At some point my eye wandered away from my section and spotted a huge black volume with a swastika on the side. I pulled it out and read the cover; 'The memoirs of Albert Speer.'

"Albert Speer," I thought. "Wasn't he Hitler's architect?" And sure enough, he was. I knelt down on the floor and read the first page. It was fascinating. So I read a little more, until I had finished the first chapter. My knees were getting tired, and I was losing circulation to my feet, so I pulled up a little stool and sat down. I held the book in my hands and held my hands up by propping my elbows on my knees. I read the second chapter. And the third.

Then I flipped forward to the illustrations in the middle. They were magnificent. I was completely enthralled.

'Inside the Third Reich' was full of madness and power. But it was written by someone whose mind was clear. It was written by the man who designed the gas chambers in Auschwitz; but whom somehow people still consider "the good nazi." A man who was close personal friends with Adolf Hitler. It was written by the man who constructed the model below, and was actually going to build it -for real. Think about that! The power he had. The ambition. The evil. But a human evil; nothing cinematic or simple. Just a long, slow descent into the center of the most horrific events in human history.

Strangely enough, I have yet to purchase or finish this book. But several times in the years since my intitiation into this crazy work, I have sought it out in libraries and read further, or studied the illustrations with greater intensity. Every time is glorious.

I have read about a third of this book so far and have found it to provide a perspective I have never been exposed to regarding the early years of Hitler and his rule in Germany. For a quite some time I have been impressed with Albert Speer. I believe this man genuinely repented from his years serving Hitler's regime. I am honestly enjoying this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in history's lessons.

I loved Memoirs by Albert Speer. Why? Because he was not afraid to share what he experienced with Hitler's Nazi organisation. He shares with us how and why he got commited to Adolf Hitler. How he became Minister of Armements and Ammunition. How and why he used forced labor. Why he juggle with the idea of killing his master,how he lived the 3rd Reich downfall.

Moreover, the picture he presents about the relations between such characters as Goebbles, Goering, Ribbentrop, Bormann, Himmler and Hitler is absolutly mesmerizing.

About the Nazi's numerous crimes, he did not even try to put the blame on others, like they all did. He took full responsability, in the best written and poignant paragraph I've ever read.

Despite it all, that paragraph made Albert Speer one the most respectable man I've read about.

Albert Speer; an honest, open-minded, intelligent family man who got caught up in the Nazi movement.

What an eye opener. I have read many books in regards to WW2 history and also the workings of the NAZI party, and this was about the most believable intimate view that I have seen yet. SPEER takes a humble and realistic approach at the heavy burden that he was to carry for the rest of his life, indeed, that the country of Germany still carries. This is an absolute for anyone interested in the subject.

This is the single finest account of Hitler and the Third Reich, I believe that can be found. It's thorough, including biographies of important characters (Goebbels, Goering, Bormann etc.) It also gives a rarely seen,and fascinating intimate portrait of Hitler, and his machinations. Excellent for both beginners and starters on the Third Reich.

This is another World War II book that remains a popular read.

The book is a well written account of the role of "Hitler's Architect". Speer was a manager/architect that help Hitler plan and execute his plans to develop the German war effort. He helped in many facets of the war and together with Hitler they re-planned central Berlin to be the home of the Third Reich.

In retrospect we tend to think of Hitler as a single person but in fact he was surrounded by many like minded and capable individuals. One man can only lead. He needs helpers to do what the Germans did in World War II including the death camps. Speer was one of the many critical people. His role was less sinister than some of his fellow Nazis but it was still a pivot role in helping develop and execute the production of material for the war effort.

The book gives insights into the management and technical problems in running the war.

Excellent book that is still popular. Four or five stars.

Jack in Toronto

Albert Speer, whose career blossomed during the Third Reich as Hitler's principal architect and culminated as Germany's Minister of Armaments and War Production from 1942 to 1945, has produced a rich and fascinating account of his experiences and encounters with many of the infamous personalities of the Nazi state.

For anyone who has even the slightest curiosity about the history of Germany between 1933 and 1945, THIS BOOK WILL HOLD YOU IN THRALL. Speer tells a very powerful and compelling story.