Talk:Albert Speer
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Hitler supposedly had a weakness for the young and handsome Speer, whose designs were considered expressions of National Socialist principles.
What is implied by that? cprompt
I’ve changed it to “Hitler was always a strong supporter of Speer”. --GeneralPatton 22:12, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)
- The original sentence did not suggest any homosexual affection whatsoever. It simply implied that Hitler saw in Speer as he would have liked to be himself. Ottens 20:39, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
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- I've augmented this, providing a bit of explanation why the two developed a strong relationship: "Hitler was always a strong supporter of Speer, in part because of Hitler's own frustrated artistic and architectural visions. A strong affinity developed between Hitler and the ambitious young architect early in their professional relationship. For Speer, serving as architect for the head of the German state and being given virtual carte blanche as to expenses, presented a tremendous opportunity. For Hitler, Speer personified a talented architect capable of translating Hitler's grandiose visions into tangible designs which expressed what Hitler felt were National Socialist principles." -- JonRoma 19:29, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Appropriate to Add Photograph?
I added mention of the Maushausen photo, as it is brought up in many accounts of the Nurenburg trials, sometimes referred to as the "photo that almost got Albert Speer hanged."
While I have located a copy of this photo online, I don't play with online art, because I don't pretend to understand the constantly-changing laws about "fair use," copyrights, etc.
Personally, I think it would be a great addition to this article, but I am not qualified to add photos to Wikipedia. The following is a link to a JPEG of the photo if anyone who knows more about copyright law wants to add it. --L. 29 June 2005 14:45 (UTC) Rüstungsminister Albert Speer mit Häftlingen des KZ Mauthausen
[edit] Holocaust
To my knowledge, Speer always admired Hitler. Please check someone this "assassination" story. Does not seem believable!?
Secondly, it was Eichmann who engineered the logistics of extermination. Speer worked on the logistics of armaments and labor. If his role in Holocaust was true and verifiable, he would have hung!
MM.
- The assassination story is true, he wrote about himself in Inside the Third Reich. Adam Bishop 04:34, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)
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- Now that I look at the article again, I'm not sure that Speer had anything to do with Wannsee. All they got him for at Nuremburg was prolonging the war, and slave labour, I believe. Adam Bishop 04:45, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)
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- Speer started the "assassination" story back in 1945 debriefings. And yes, prolonging the war, and slave labor where what he was accused of (and he admitted it himself), had he been involved in the final solution, he would have ended up on the gallows. --GeneralPatton 22:09, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)
QUESTION: Understand the following: In late 1990s/early 2000s, after Speer's death, examination of the RAF photos of Hitler's bunker directly contradicted the timeline Speer gave for the assassination attempt. Does this constitute "scant evidence" or "evidence indicates that he did not?"
Aha! Should not though his post-Nuremberg word be taken with caution? I could imagine Speer as a great admirer of Hitler who woke up by 1946 or 1947 and though ... "My God! How foolish was I to follow this blundering madman?". Perhaps "scorched earth" policy of March 19 made him furious and for a moment in anger he though "I would like to kill this Hilter bastard". Then a few years later he might cover up for his foolish trust in the "leader" by converting a momentary thought of anger into an imaginary plot. Sort of self-defense, perhaps partly based on self-delusion? No idea. Just speculating on little knowledge.
Of what I know Speer seems a technical mind, efficient, intelligent, well-organized, and blindly following the leadership (nearly up to the end). Thoughts of assassination just do not fit this model. He seemed too "mild" and too much focused on the creative side of building the "great" Reich
- Yes, that is one of the problems with that segment of Inside the Third Reich. It is a little convenient that his plan was foiled, and that he was never punished like other conspirators were, or that no one else seems to have known about it...but it does seem to be true that he was actively working against Hitler's scorched earth policy. Perhaps he never did try to kill him though. I think it still warrants a mention in the article, though it might be amended to say he only claimed to have tried. Adam Bishop 14:47, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)
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- Speer did not claim that he tried to kill Hitler; his autobiography only states that he contemplated procuring poison gas and investigated introducing it into the ventilation system in the Führerbunker during the last months of the war. Speer states that he abandoned it as impractical; it may have been so, or this may have been skittishness about taking so drastic a step. Nevertheless, merely thinking about it doesn't constitute an attempt. -- JonRoma 18:47, 23 August 2005 (UTC)
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- Speer admitted he actually was glad his assasination plan did not work out as he was uncomfortable with the whole idea.
- And he did say in one of his books that he clandestinely resisted the scorched earth plan.
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- Also, this was just one of the many absurd plans Speer had floating in his head in the last days of the Third Reich, he also considered stealing a sea plane and flying to Greenland to wait out the end of the war.
After the Wannsee conference, Speer was ordered to work out the logistics of the "final solution of the Jewish question," making him a key figure in the perpetration of the Holocaust. --
I deleted this because it just isn't true. Someone has confused him with Eichmann. Just to be sure I consulted two thick books on the holocaust and neither mentioned Speer in any such role. --Zero 13:13, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)
[edit] Scorched earch policy/to Roadrunner
Roadrunner, Speer's refusal to carry the scorched earth policy is a documented fact. He even made sure that some trusted employees had weapons to defend mines against destruction by the SS. Read e.g. Sereny's book. He also used the anti-defaitist arguments to convince people. He asked managers of plants whether they believed that their plant would be re-captured by the Wehrmacht. These managers had to say yes otherwise they would get prosecuted for defaitism. And then Speer answered that this was the reason that they shouldn't be destroyed. Of course, Speer knew that the German army was not able to re-capture the plants. Andries 17:46, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Copyvio?
Albert Speer#First Architect of the Reich seems taken from http://www.robsacc.nl/ottens/albertspeer.html (copyright 2002-2004 The Ottens Lexicon)
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On the contrary, that page seems to have copied directly from Wikipedia without giving credit (I recognize my own words in there, for example). Adam Bishop 06:31, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- I talked to the guy and the page now says Wikipedia is a source...I'm sure whatever licenses we have require something else, but that's acceptable to me. Adam Bishop 23:52, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
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[edit] Minister of Armaments
Changed the formulation "only sane man" for Stauffenberg, because his position cannot be seen as positive. The conspiracy of 20.Juli was not one of democratic minds. These people were militaristic-monarchistic or rightwing conservative at the most. TF 11 Jan 2005
[edit] Disambiguation page
To the anon who keeps making this a disambiguation page: how can you possibly suggest Albert Speer the younger is as famous as his father? It's crazy - please, leave the elder Speer here, where he belongs. Adam Bishop 00:06, 16 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Deportation of Jews
There is a glaring omission from this article. There should certainly be some sort of mention of Speer's co-ordination of the eviction and deportation of Jews from Berlin.
- There is no evidence that he was involved (had a hand in) the eviction of the Jews from Berlin. See this Spiegel contribution by Gitta Sereny about recent the German TV documentary Speer und Er (in German). Jim_Lockhart 02:45, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Speer's first commission
The article states that "Speer's first commission as a Party member came in 1933 when Goebbels asked him to renovate the Propaganda ministry..." However, more accurately, after joining the Nazi party in 1931 Speer was asked to renovate the home of the Nazi official in Berlin (Karl Hanke), then given the more difficult task of rebuilding the party headquarters in Berlin. Upon completion of this work which inpressed the Nazi leadership, Speer was commissioned to renovate the Propaganda ministry.
[edit] Date of marriage
This is probably trivial, but I seem to read in Speer's autobiography that he married in 1927, not 1931. Can someone verify either date?
[edit] Nazi Party Membership
Supposedly Speer was not a member of the Nazi Party due to a clerical error which never added him to the membership roster.
-He was a member of the party, just not a member of the "Motorized SS." (Inside the 3rd Reich, page 27.)
[edit] Factual Inaccuracies?
Although Goebbels' performance offended Speer, he could not shake the impressions Hitler made on him. The next day he joined the Nazi Party. Are you sure? I think Speer joined the Nazi party on the 5th of December, 1930 the day after he heard Hitler (not Goebbels) speak for the first time. You could probably also add Speer's comment to Sereny: [he] found that [Hitler] bore a note of reasonable modesty.
Speer's first commission as a Party member came in 1933 when Goebbels asked him to renovate the Propaganda Ministry. I think Speer's first commission as a party member was redesigning the Berlin Party HQ Adolf Hitler House not the Propaganda Ministry.
I don't think Speer redesigned the Reich Chancellery itself, but, rather, the official residence in the Reich Chancellery for Hitler. (They may be one and the same, however).
capable of holding two hundred and forty thousand people. At the 1934 Party rally on the parade grounds, Speer surrounded the site with one hundred and fifty anti-aircraft searchlights.
I think there were 130 not 150 searchlights. Plus I think the Zeppelin Field could hold 340,000 not 240,000.
During his involvement in the rebuilding of Berlin, he was allegedly responsible for the forced deportation of Jews, evicting them from their houses to make room for his grand plans and for re-housing German citizens affected by this work. He was also listed as being present at the 1943 Posen Conference, although he supposedly left early. I think this needs more attention. Speer evicted 75,000 Berliner Jews during his tenure as Great Building Inspector for Tranformation of Reich Capital. This was recorded in the Wolter's Chronicle. While at the October 6, 1943 conference at Posen, Speer was already Armaments Minister, and so that incident should be mentioned in the next paragraph.
Regarding the death penalty - which the Soviets pushed for - according to Fest, if I remember correctly, most judges were pushing for the death penalty at the trial.
This conversation, it is said, brought Hitler to tears. In spite of this reaffirmation and Speer's trip to the Führerbunker toward the final days of the war - - I thought the conversation took place in the Bunker, after which Speer was arrested and therefore could not travel back to the bunker again...
After Speer's Mauthausen visit, it is on record that he asked that conditions be made worse for inmates. That should be mentioned. As should the fact that Speer visited other slave labour camps: Camp Dora which he called the worst place I'd ever seen and the Landsberg Aircraft Factory. In both instances he asked for improvements in conditions. I also think that the actual verdict for Speer should be included; the verdict mentions that Speer was the only one to have the courage to tell Hitler the war was lost and stop the senseless destruction associated with Hitler's scorched earth policy.
For example, through one of his friends, Karl Hanke, he learned of Auschwitz and the large number of deaths taking place there. Technically Hanke didn't inform him about Auschwitz, but, rather, a place that existed in Silesia which Speer concluded later must have been Auschwitz.
- I'm no Speer expert or anything but I can chip in what I know (or think I know) or at least what some books tell me about a few of these things.
- In Inside the Third Reich, Speer says he saw Hitler speak first, was impressed, then "a few weeks after this speech" he was taken to see Goebbels's speech and, despite not being too impressed, he went "the following day and applied to for membership in the National Socialist Party and in Janurary 1931 became Member Number 474,481." So I suppose there was something of a delay in having his membership processed, but I think the date he applied is the date that should be cited as the date of his membership
- Regarding his first assignment: It says that he first did a some small renovations to the villa of Karl Hanke (I love that name), and Hanke in turn recommended Speer to Goebbels for the rebuilding of the "new district headquarters" that was named in honour of Hitler. Since Goebbels was the Gaulieter of Berlin (where this building was situated) this was Goebbels office. So the name "Adolf Hitler House" is kinda irrelevant
- You're right about there being 130, not 150, searchlights, I'll change that
- The Soviets pushed for death for pretty much all of the indicted, so that part isn't in question, but I specifically remember reading in the book "Long Knives and Short Memories" that all of the others were opposed. At first the American judge, I believe, was for it, but at the end all judges except the Soviet one were against the death sentence. I wish I could cite exact information but I don't have that book on me at the moment. I remember specifically coming to his page to change the information regarding the death penalty to what it is now after first reading it.
- You're right that it took place in the Bunker, I'll fix that as well. The arrest thing is news to me though. Do you mean arrested by the Allies? I think there was a considerable period in between Hitler's death and his capture by the Allies
- You should feel free to correct the information on the concentration camps bits, I don't know much about them --Clngre 13:33, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
Since Goebbels was the Gaulieter of Berlin (where this building was situated) this was Goebbels office. So the name "Adolf Hitler House" is kinda irrelevant - Yes, but the article claims his first commission was the Propaganda Ministry and, as I understand it, that was a different building, redesigned at a different time.
Re: the death penalty - I'm quite sure most of them were for the death penalty at first - - and, as you pointed out, they changed their minds. Fest actually goes so far as to say that Jackson was hopelessly unprepared for Speer's trial, claiming that he could not fathom Hitler's apathetic style of rule and its polycratic nature. That could be mentioned, I suppose.
Do you mean arrested by the Allies? I think there was a considerable period in between Hitler's death and his capture by the Allies - If I remember correctly, a period did elapse in which Speer may have rejoined his family in the north (I think), however during that period - and given the difficulty it took him to re-enter Berlin the first time - it would have been most difficult to go back to the bunker again. When he was arrested exactly, I don't know.
I'm unwilling to make the changes before I become a member - - if that's alright. Plus, given the debate surrounding Speer I think it'd be wise to leave any possible changes open for discussion first. 60.225.77.105 23:56, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
You're right about the first thing, I'll change that. Also, I hope you know that becoming a member is a quick, convenient process. I, for one, encourage you to sign up and help out. This place has like gangs of people roaming around offering glowingly welcomes to new members, it seems, but I'm not one of them so forgive my lack of eloquence. Let's be friends, you and I.... forever and ever. --Clngre 00:19, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
- Are you trying to put him off?--shtove 09:21, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Joachim Fest
Even today, German historians such as Joachim Fest tend to have a high opinion of him, while non-German historians take a lower view
Thats definitely wrong. In an interview about the german-tv movie "Speer und Er" Fest said he was personally disappointed by Speer, "Er hat uns allen eine Nase gezogen"(He punked all of us), because evidence that surfaced after Speers dead proves that he at least partly participated in the holocaust. He personly ordered Auschwitz to be enlarged, he suggested that "Jew flats" should be given to the people who lost their home by the bombings, a.o.. He told nothing of that to Fest when they worked at "Inside the Third Reich".
[edit] Why did he join the Nazi Party?
I've read many times that joining the Nazi Party was a platform which Speer intended to use to further his career, however when he joined the Nazis weren't in power, therefore there would have been little incentive to join other than a sharing of ideological beliefs, no?
[edit] Imprisonment
Is it me or does this section have a problem with NPOV?
[edit] First Architect of the Reich
Image is broken.
[edit] Biography on Speer
I read a biography on Herr Speer in 1998, named Albert Speer: His Battle with the Truth [ISBN:0-330-34697], on his relationship with der Fuherer and how he grappled with the guilt he must have felt. She interviewed Speer a few years before he died. Sereny hints that Hitler and Speer had a 'homoerotic' relationship, which isn't surprising given the dynamics of their friendship. It's worth a read and offers terrific insight into Speer's troubled chracter. Geelin 14:05, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] His biggest mistake
I heard Speer saying in a TV documentary that his biggest mistake as minister of armament was the V-2_rocket project that needed too many resources and yielded too little. Does anyone have the name and date, editor etc. for this TV documentary? I want to add it to the article with the source. Thanks in advance. Andries 18:31, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
- Sounds intriguing... I guess you've tried an internet search with keywords such as "Speer", "documentary", "television", "TV", "mistake", "regret", "V-2", "V2", etc...? Regards, David Kernow (talk) 02:58, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
- Check Speer's books on the subject. I am reasonably sure he ways by the time the V2 came around, he knew the war was lost.--Wehwalt 03:41, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
"Hitler's Henchmen, 6 VHS History Channel" has one VHS tape on Albert Speer and i saw in this documentary, a 3-min segment on the rockets in which it is stated that Speer considered the V-2 to be his biggest mistake.
[edit] Death in London
What was Speer doing in London? Had he moved there or was he just visiting? As a Nazi war criminal I'm surprised he was allowed into the country at all. Also, he was the highest ranking Nazi to appear in the ITV documentary The World at War, perhaps we should put something in about this??--Edchilvers 12:00, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
- According to Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth, he was there to participate in a documentary. It was the second time he had been allowed into the UK. The first time, there was all sorts of fuss, as you suggest, with the authorities. The second time, there was no problem. He was still living in Germany.--Wehwalt 12:26, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Mauthausen photo
I'm bothered by the ping pong of edits about the Mauthausen photo. I suggest we throw out everything in the paragraph after Speer's sentence. Frankly, a photo of Speer surrounded by prisoners doesn't prove he was aware of the Holocaust, gas chambers and all, and I doubt if the prosecution so alleged. While that was a key piece of evidence in convicting Speer on the counts he was convicted of (which really stemmed from importation of forced labor), the prosecution, as I recall, made little attempt to tie Speer to the Holocaust. If they had done so successfully, he would not have survived Nuremberg. Accordingly, either the prosecution, or the judges, did not view the photo as probative of Speer's knowledge of the Holocaust.--Wehwalt 02:05, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Papua New Guinea
Did Speer ever visit or live in PNG? In a collection lodged at the NLA there is an image with the caption Nicholas and his wife (Albert Speer's haus boi 'houseboy') Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 1953. Albatross2147 08:49, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
- As far as I know, he never left Europe. And he spent all of 1953 at Spandau.--Wehwalt 09:26, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Recent article on Speer's knowlege of the Holocaust
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329743131-111784,00.html This article was recently published in the Guardian, and sheds some new light on what Albert Speer did and didn't know about the Holocaust. Thought the new comments apparently from Speer himself may make relevant additions to this page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.159.30.240 (talk) 20:52, 14 March 2007 (UTC).
- Sounds like it should be mentioned in the article. Although he still makes it a bit unclear.--Wehwalt 22:04, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
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