INSIDE THE THIRD REICH

Rating:
Summary: A book about Speer, not about the Third Reich
Review: 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.