Speer - The Final Verdict

440 Pages·2001·80.17 MB·English

by  Joachim Fest

J
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THE
FINAL
VERDICT
OACHIM
FEST
HITLER
I thor of
$30.00
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By the celebrated historian antTSu
Hitler, a fascinating portrait of one ofthe
most intriguing men in Nazi Germany
LBERT SPEER
s a great enigma,
ftocre architectwhen
Itler came to power in 1933, he was
m designing the Third Reich's most important
buildings, developing grandiose plans to turn
i
Berlin into "Cermania, capital ofthe world," and
stage-managing the Nazi Party's Nuremberg
rallies. In 1942 Hitler appointed him Armaments
Minister and he quadrupled production, an aston-
ishing achievement that keptthe German Army in
the field and prolonged the war.
i
Yet Speer's lifewas full ofcontradictions. The
only member ofthe Nazi elitewith whom Hitler
developed morethan a purely functional relation-
ship (he has even been called "Hitler's unrequited
love"), Speerwas always an outsider in Hitler's
inner circle. He saw himselfas an artist, abovethe
crass power struggles ofthe roughnecks around
him, but his enormous ambition made him oblivi-
ous to the crimes ofanti-Semitism and the devas-
tation ofEurope. Spared the death sentence at
J
Nuremberg, Speerwent on to rehabilitate himself
in the public eye, becoming for manya symbol of
German exoneration.
j
Joachim Fest, a world-renowned authorityon
'
the Third Reich and the editor ofSpeer's own
memoirs, examines Speer's life and work, viewing
him as representative ofthe German people. Richly
illustrated, this brilliant and incisive biography is a j
majorcontribution tothe historyofNazi Germany.
TranslatedfromtheGermanbyEwaldOsersandAlexandraDring
\ony

SPEER
ALSO BY JOACHIM FEST
Plotting Hitler's Death
Hitler
The Face ofthe Third Reich
SPEER
THE FINAL VERDICT
Joachim Fest
Translatedfrom the German by
Ewald Osers and Alexandra Bring
Harcourt, Inc.
NEW YORK SAN DIEGO LONDON
© 1999 Alexander Fest Verlag, Berlin
Translation © 2001 Ewald Osers and Alexandra Dring
All rights reserved. Nopart ofthispublication may be reproduced
ortransmitted in any form orby any means, electronic or mechanical,
includingphotocopy, recording, orany information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests forpermission to make copies ofanypart ofthe work
should be mailed to the followingaddress: Permissions Department,
Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando,Florida 32887-6777.
www.HarcourtBooks.com
This is a translation ofSpeer:EineBiographie.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fest,Joachim C, 1926-
[Speer. English]
Speer: the final verdict/Joachim Fest;
translated from the German by Ewald Osers and Alexandra Dring.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-15-100556-7
— —
I. Speer, Albert,—1905- 2. A—rchitects Germany Biography.
3. Nazis Germany Biography. I. Title.
DD247.S63 F4713 2002
—
943.o86'o92 dc2i 2002006074
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
First U.S. edition
ABCDEFGHIJK
CONTENTS
List ofillustrations VII
Preface XI
Introduction: Questions, Contradictions,
and More Questions
I
Awakening
I II
2 Within the Inner Circle 39
3 Germania: The Capital ofthe World 66
4 Entanglements 94
5 Minister and Economic Dictator 127
6 Stations ofAmbition 160
7 Crises and Intrigues 193
8 Scorched Earth 220
9 End Without End 252
10 Judgment at Nuremberg 282
II School for Survival 308
Conclusion: The Rule and the Exception 339
Notes 357
Bibliography 395
Index 403