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Albert Speer: Eine deutsche Karriere
Das Ende einer Speer und die Lüge von der aufrichtigen ReueSeit 1931 NSDAP-Mitglied und bald ein Vertrauter Hitlers, wurde Albert Speer rasch zum Architekten des Rassenstaates. Im Krieg engagierte er sich als Rüstungsminister unermüdlich für den totalen Kampf und die Vernichtungsmaschinerie. Gleichwohl behauptete er nach Kriegsende, stets distanziert, ja eigentlich unpolitisch und gar kein richtiger Nazi gewesen zu sein. Magnus Brechtken zeigt, wie es Speer gelang, diese Legende zu verbreiten, und wie Millionen Deutsche sie begierig aufnahmen, um sich selbst zu entschulden.Brechtken, renommierter Zeithistoriker und stellvertretender Direktor des Münchner Instituts für Zeitgeschichte, beschreibt nicht nur, wie markant Speers Stilisierung als angeblich unpolitischer Techniker den historischen Tatsachen widerspricht. Auf der Basis jahrelanger Recherchen und vieler bislang unbekannter Quellen schildert er zugleich, wie Millionen Deutsche Speers Fabeln mit Eifer übernahmen, um sich die eigene Vergangenheit schönzureden, und wie sehr Intellektuelle, namentlich Joachim Fest und Wolf Jobst Siedler, diese Legendenbildung unterstützten. Die verblüffende Biographie eines umtriebigen Manipulators – und zugleich ein Lehrstück für den deutschen Umgang mit der eigenen Geschichte.
913 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2017
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120 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 9, 2023
The 'Good Nazi' who was, in fact, a calculating and unscrupulous man, fully aware and responsible for the Nazi regime's crimes
A cheerful man in Nazi uniform walks with a group of women. One of the women pushes a stroller, from which a child looks at the man admiringly. This is a photo of Albert Speer, the Nazi architect and later Minister of Armaments, responsible for the "armament miracle" that enabled Germany to achieve impressive armaments figures in the last years of World War II.
Albert Speer was tried at the Nuremberg trials, where he expressed regret as one of the few Nazi leaders. This earned him his reputation as a "good Nazi", which he carefully cultivated after his release. For example, he would have personally ensured that Hitler's "Nero decree", with which Hitler wanted to destroy Germany's economic capacity forever, was not carried out. He knew nothing of the horrors of the Holocaust and the working conditions of the slave laborers in the arms factories for which he was responsible. As a simple architect, he was more interested in technology than politics.
Magnus Brechtken leaves no stone unturned in exposing the so-called "good Nazi" reputation of Albert Speer as a liar and fantasist. He was an ambitious and unscrupulous figure who had already discovered in the early 1930s how he could use his "Führernähe" (friendship with Hitler) to achieve his ambitions. His so-called armament miracle was not due to him, but the groundwork had been laid by his predecessors.
Brechtken is also not kind to the Allies, such as the lawyers of the Nuremberg trials and the Western media after the war, who gladly gave Speer all (uncritical) space. The interrogators were taken in by Speer during the Nuremberg tribunal hearings. Perhaps it was the morbid interest in Hitler that made them listen to Speer so eagerly. After all, he was one of the few who had remained in Hitler's favor throughout the war. In addition, they could give Speer all the space without ideological objections, because he had not been one of the "good Nazis". The Germans themselves also liked his carefully cultivated image as a "good Nazi". After all, Speer's willingness to serve as a penitent also absolved the "ordinary" Germans of the horrors of war. This myth was therefore not often subjected to critical scrutiny, let alone supported by documents from that time.
Brechtken convincingly shows, supported by documents and eyewitness accounts, that Speer was a calculating, unscrupulous man who worked diligently and creatively on his own career, power, and well-being with the sole goal of fame for himself. His so-called atonement was nothing more than an attempt to disguise the fact that he had built up, consolidated, and maintained the Nazi system as a co-organizer of it for years.
I recommend that anyone who has read Speer's memoirs and has gotten the impression that Speer was a "good Nazi" also read this book.
Read in Dutch
A cheerful man in Nazi uniform walks with a group of women. One of the women pushes a stroller, from which a child looks at the man admiringly. This is a photo of Albert Speer, the Nazi architect and later Minister of Armaments, responsible for the "armament miracle" that enabled Germany to achieve impressive armaments figures in the last years of World War II.
Albert Speer was tried at the Nuremberg trials, where he expressed regret as one of the few Nazi leaders. This earned him his reputation as a "good Nazi", which he carefully cultivated after his release. For example, he would have personally ensured that Hitler's "Nero decree", with which Hitler wanted to destroy Germany's economic capacity forever, was not carried out. He knew nothing of the horrors of the Holocaust and the working conditions of the slave laborers in the arms factories for which he was responsible. As a simple architect, he was more interested in technology than politics.
Magnus Brechtken leaves no stone unturned in exposing the so-called "good Nazi" reputation of Albert Speer as a liar and fantasist. He was an ambitious and unscrupulous figure who had already discovered in the early 1930s how he could use his "Führernähe" (friendship with Hitler) to achieve his ambitions. His so-called armament miracle was not due to him, but the groundwork had been laid by his predecessors.
Brechtken is also not kind to the Allies, such as the lawyers of the Nuremberg trials and the Western media after the war, who gladly gave Speer all (uncritical) space. The interrogators were taken in by Speer during the Nuremberg tribunal hearings. Perhaps it was the morbid interest in Hitler that made them listen to Speer so eagerly. After all, he was one of the few who had remained in Hitler's favor throughout the war. In addition, they could give Speer all the space without ideological objections, because he had not been one of the "good Nazis". The Germans themselves also liked his carefully cultivated image as a "good Nazi". After all, Speer's willingness to serve as a penitent also absolved the "ordinary" Germans of the horrors of war. This myth was therefore not often subjected to critical scrutiny, let alone supported by documents from that time.
Brechtken convincingly shows, supported by documents and eyewitness accounts, that Speer was a calculating, unscrupulous man who worked diligently and creatively on his own career, power, and well-being with the sole goal of fame for himself. His so-called atonement was nothing more than an attempt to disguise the fact that he had built up, consolidated, and maintained the Nazi system as a co-organizer of it for years.
I recommend that anyone who has read Speer's memoirs and has gotten the impression that Speer was a "good Nazi" also read this book.
Read in Dutch
March 30, 2022
Das einzige Buch, das man zum überzeugten Faschist, lebenslangen Lügner und gewissenlosen Kriegsverbrecher Speer lesen muss. Es gab keine 'guten' Nazis, und es wird sie nie geben. Eins der wichtigsten, ausführlichsten Bücher, die zum Thema NS je geschrieben wurde.
March 3, 2019
Fantastische analyse waarin de mythe 'Speer' ontleed wordt aan de hand van bron materiaal. Ontluisterend maar verhelderend.
March 22, 2022
An excellent biography on Albert Speer and a condemnation of the early historical research on him.
March 30, 2022
Gute Biografie, die mit vielen teilweise schon Jahrzehnte alten Schutzbehauptungen Speers nach dem 2. Weltkrieg bezüglich seines Unwissens unter anderem über die Judenvernichtung und die unmenschlichen Bedingungen der Zwangsarbeiter im dritten Reich aufräumt. Sehr umfangreiche Anmerkungen, die etwa ein Drittel der knapp über 900 Seiten einnehmen.
October 29, 2025
Albert Speer: Als Rüstungsminister tief verwickelt in die Verbrechen der NS-Zeit - Zwangsarbeit, KZ-Betriebe, Erweiterung in Auschwitz, Mittelbau Dora - die Liste ist lang und stempelt Albert Speer zum Nazi, der auch noch im letzten Kriegsjahr eifrig daran mitwirkte, die Kriegswirtschaft im "Totalen Krieg" am Laufen zu halten. Schon in den Nürnberger Hauptkriegsverbrecherprozessen lackierte er sich erfolgreich um - zum Technokraten und verführten Bürger. Damit lieferte er der Nachkriegsgesellschaft ein willkommenes Muster der "Entschuldung" - Hitler als die Zentrale des Bösen und alle anderen haben nur irgendwie Befehle befolgt. Damit ist Speer jahrelang durch gekommen - bis die ersten kritischen Stimmen sich melden. Spätestens wenn man dieses Buch gelesen hat, war es das mit der Legende vom "guten Nazi" - nein, er war ein Verbrecher wie alle anderen auch - er war nur besser darin, seine Erinnerungen umzulackieren.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews