Albert Speer

Albert Speer, the chief architect of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler's confidant, remains the most mysterious character of the leadership of the Nazi regime. He built the 'Reichskanzlei' (official offices), discovered the 'Lightdome', and was finally, in 1942, named as the minister for armaments. But he characterized himself as apolitical and called Hitler's hatred of Jews an anomaly, and the conspirators of the 20th July placed his name on their cabinet list. Joachim Fest helped Speer to draft his 'memoirs' and the Spandau diaries. Between 1966 and 1981 they conducted numerous detailed conversations whose content (and at times exact wording) Fest recorded in writing after the event. The records captured in this manner are now published for the first time in this book and provide a unique portrait of Albert Speer - of the man, his thinking and his role in the Nazi regime. They are an important contribution to understanding the psychology of the National Socialist leadership and at the same time a significant document of history.