INSIDE THE THIRD REICH

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Summary: The inner workings of Speer
Review: This is the life and loves of Albert Speer. It does give us an insight as to what it was to live in HIS time and place. This shows that with the right attitude and a willingness to learn that you can go far. He was able to find unique solutions to common problems he used searchlights for dramatic effects and cement engines to keep trains going. No telling what we could have gained from his insight, if he had been able to contribute more than his memoirs. The fact that he produced this book is a miracle in its self. Look at what he could do with a simple thing like searchlights. He would have been great with lasers. If you want to know more about other people and not just the mysterious Adolf, then your next book should be "The Arms of Krupp 1587-1968" by William Manchester

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Summary: "Speer, hier!"
Review: I actually met Albert Speer in 1970, shortly after the book was released, in his hometown of Heidelberg, Germany... I was just ten, and although I had read some of the book and understood generally what the Nazi agenda was about, he nevertheless struck me as a wonderfully kind, grandfatherly-like figure... He still had a great interest in architecture, and his study - panelled in dark wood - had numerous architectural drawings cubby-holed along the wall above his desk. When we mentioned an upcoming road trip to Italy, he recommended a visit to Paestum, Italy; he called it "the greatest example of Magna Graecia architecture on the Italian mainland". Back then, no one had heard much about it... What we saw weeks later when we arrived on a beautiful summer day was a fabulous temple to Poseidon, set alone in the rolling Italian countryside, with only an ice-cream vendor and a few passers-by in parked Fiats to admire it...

Of all the Germans of that era, I think Speer speaks most modernly. Originally an architect, later Hitler's Armaments Minister and "best friend", Speer successfully managed to retain an intelligent, detached psychological centre throughout the Nazi phenomenon. He was in a position to know all the major players in the Nazi hierarchy and, from his vantagepoint as Armaments Minister, to become widely acquainted with strategic and important domestic issues, decisions, and controversies.

The book is illustrated with a nice assortment of representative photographs, drawings by Hitler, and models of the proposed huge building programs which were to be commenced at the victorious establishment of the post-war "thousand-year Reich".

I have read this book time and again; the style is not only tolerable but engaging. An important first-hand account of the foibles and eccentricities of the Nazi bureaucracy. Recommended without reservation.

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Summary: An Intriguing Inside Look.
Review: This book is simply esssential reading by a man who describes himself " If Hitler had had any friends, I would certainly have been one of his close friends". It is essential reading from the view that the book describes what it was like to be within Hitlers intimate circle. One gets the impression Speer was a talented, quiet man who joined the Nazi party as he was totally engrossed with the character of Hitler.

I found the chapters devoted to the time Speer was Hitler's architect a little repetitive in places but these were still interesting as they showed what grandiose plans Hitler had.

However, the book really takes off when Speer is appointed Minister of Armaments after the mysterious death of Todt. From this point on the book is literally hard to put down. Speer describes the mobilisation of German industry, the initial errors in the Allied bombing strategy, the blunders made with secret weapons ( e.g the use of the ME262 jet fighter as a bomber and the waste of the rocket technology). What is must intriguing is the immense inside politics which went on, and all the big names are mentioned in this book: Bormann, Goring, Gobbels, Himmler and of course Hitler. Speer finally realised that he too had to play the dirty game of politics in order to get anything done. Speer descibes Hitler as an amatuer who knew no rules which lead to early victories but then the ultimate defeat of Germany and Speer tries to show the changes that went through Hitler as the war went on.

Finally, this book was an opportunity for Speer to look at himself and come to grips with his guilt for the part he played Inside the Third Reich.

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Summary: at home with adolf, by his best friend
Review: albert speer's memoirs tell what it was like to work for and with adolf hitler. this is probably the only such book that will ever be written on this side.

speer describes himself as " hitler's best friend," which explains his willful blindness to the collection of atrocities around him. he and his associates came in at 8, ate lunch and went home at 6, so the book has detailed information on the day to day government in wartime germany.

but through the ordinary existence, the compelling lack of the bigger picture comes through clearly. speer did not want to know, and the book has every explanation (read after the fact apology) of why he did not know and did nothing about what he did know.

his book, "spandau diaries" is less polished than this one but covers much the same ground. i guess there is little to do when you are in prison for 20 years for war crimes. "fatherland" by robert harris is an excellent fictional treatment of what would europe and the world look like if hitler had won the war.

speer's book is excellent history of what went on among the nazi paladins. but it is a good lesson of all evil needs to succeed is for good men (and women) to do nothing.

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Summary: Captivating and informative, but is it ALL true?
Review: I find the subject of the Nazi party and how they destroyed Germany interesting. Having read books like William Shirers "The rise and fall of the Third Reich", I felt this book would give me more of an insiders view and who better than a survivor of the Nuremburg trials to write it?

Speer spends some time giving us his personal history, but moves on quickly to his first meeting with Hitlers and his invovlement with the Nazi party. His career was quite remarkable. His rise was legendedary. However, I walked away feeling as though he hadn't told me everything.

During and after the trials at Nuremburg, many people felt that Speer had saved himself by "accepting" responsibility for his actions and more or less thrown himself at the mercy of the court. He does a little of this in the book, but it isn't convincing. He comes across like too much of a goodie-two-shoes. "Yes, we did this, but I had no idea how bad it was until afterwards".

Still, it fills in a lot of information about the events not reported in the press and in subsequent publications. It's worthwhile reading the book and at the end you can't help feeling that perhaps he got away with something that he took with him to the grave.

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Summary: Packed with Little-Known Information
Review: This thrilling book not only tells us the details of the Third Reich, but also gives us insights into Der Fuhrer's mind. For example, there have been false claims about Hitler being a Christian. Speer makes it clear that this is totally untrue. Fact is, Hitler had long since abandoned the Catholic upbringing of his youth.

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Summary: Speer got lucky in the end; so did we
Review: Albert Speer spent exactly 20 years in Spandau prison after the fall of Germany and his subsequent trial at Nuremberg. He was alone amongst those high-ranking Nazis who were closest to Hitler, to escape execution. To say that for a certain amount of time, his life hung very much in the balance would be putting it mildly. Yet thanks to the failure of the Russians, who wanted him dead, Speer lived on and produced this remarkable memoir of a world gone mad. One hardly thinks that any other single Nazi could have produced a document as worthy of our attention. How curious the fates are.

Part of what kept Speer alive at the end of the war was a certain identifiable integrity, which comes through in the book. Perhaps he is also masking certain people and shielding us from the absolute truth of certain events, but in the main, one senses he is concerned with the truth and is not afraid of it being revealed. It may be a small thing to say that his greatest accomplishment as a Reich minister was to prevent Hitler from completely paralysing Germany in the final months and weeks. Yet I think it is indicative of his character, which therefore reassures us about the worth of this book, that he bit the bullet at the end, and refused to participate any further in what had clearly become the final ranting of his erstwhile belovèd Führer. One should definitely read Speer for a further appreciation of the subject matter, to round out any non-German sources. I think we can be quite happy that he did not, in the end, get the chop.

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Summary: Well Worth Reading for Anyone Who is a WWII Buff
Review: Albert Speer, in his autobiographical account of his role in the Nazi war movement and regime, offers historians a slice of history that is now well recorded. He gives us an understanding and profile of Hitler like no one else can -- because he was his "only friend." Speer recites his encounters and actions with feeling and expands on his emotional distress of choosing between his boss and nation. While the end of the war was looming, he challenged Hitler and at the Nuremberg Trials, his defence of collective guilt brought some sort of comfort to him as the trial progressed. Speer's accounts are priceless and he helps put into perpective the true horros of the war of 1939-1945.

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Summary: BEWARE OF MEN LIKE SPEER
Review: This is a fascinating look at the man who knew Hitler like no other. It is amazing to see how a nation became enraptured by a bitter little man like Hitler, but timing was everything in 1930's Germany. One might think by Speer's earnest writing that he was a good and noble man caught in a bad situation. Be wary of this. This is a man who willingly accepted the enslaving of thousands to feed the Nazi war machine. Yes, it's easy to be sorry,or regretful, when one is defeated and in chains but would a victorious Albert Speer have had the same regrets if Hitler conquered the world? Of course not. Speer says what he had to (with an eye on early release from prison, quite naturally), so take his contriteness with a grain of salt, all the while thanking the heavens his side didn't win.

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Summary: Inside the Third Reich: An Amazing View of Hitler
Review: I first read 'Inside the the Third Reich' at age 19 and the message of this book has been with me ever since. Quite simply it is a true fable of evil corrupting good. Throughout Speer's early account one almost feels that this could be anyone, at anytime. Only as world events change at an astouding pace around him, are we reminded that Speer lived in a Germany that was soon to be the home to one of the greatest evils the world had ever known. Speer tells us of the fateful night he first heard Hitler speak, and how he joined the Nazi party bare hours later. The portrait Speer paints of Hitler is not one of the evil demegouge that history would prove him to be, but rather one of an inspired leader who was doing all he could to lift his nation out of economic ruin and national despair. It was this illusion that Hitler projected that allowed good and honorable men, like Speer, to be corrupted. This is an entertaining book for any amatuer historian, and more, a very important one for anyone who wonders how a nation of philosiphers, and Christians, aritists and engineers, could sell it's very soul to evil.