- Hardcover: 757 pages
- Publisher: Macmillan; 1st edition (8 Sep 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0333645197
- ISBN-13: 978-0333645192
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 5.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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- #7 in Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > Historians > Sereny, Gitta
- #22 in Books > History > Military History > War Crimes > Genocide
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Albert Speer was Hitler's architect before the Second World War. Through Hitler's great trust in him and Speer's own genius for organisation he became, effectively from 1942 overlord of the entire war economy, making him the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. Sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Spandau Prison at the Nuremberg Trails, Speer attempted to progress from moral extinction to moral self-education. How he came to terms with his own acts and failures to act and his real culpability in Nazi war crimes are the questions at the centre of this book. The author had access to Speer, his family and friends and his private papers. After twelve years of research and writing after Speer's death the result is one of the most inimate, and best informed books on Hitler and the Third Reich. Gitta Sereny's previous books include the masterful international success, Into that Darkness, on Franz Stangl, commandant of the Treblinka death camp. `This is a book not to be missed by anyone interested in Nazi Germany or, for that matter, in the complexity of human behaviour.' - Alan Bullock, author of Hitler: A Study in Tyranny 'Required reading for anyone who wants to get inside the working of the Third Reich.' - Ian Kershaw
Book Description
‘A masterpiece . . . a contribution to the effort of recuperation of human dignity at the end of this atrocious century . . . This is the account Joan of Arc would have given if she had been charged with interrogating Faust’ John Banville, Observer ‘A remarkable new biography – arguably the most important and certainly the most fascinating book about the Nazi era published in the last ten years . . . Gitta Sereny has written a masterpiece’ Robert Harris, Sunday Times ‘An essential experience that conveys like no other book the qualities of the Nazi elite . . . restoring emotion to people we would prefer to regard as soulless machines’ David Cesarini, Financial Times ‘A masterpiece of historical and inquisitorial technique, enables us to understand the ablest, most articulate, and most ambiguous of Hitler’s ministers’ Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year
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DR. HANS FLACHSNER [defense counsel]: With the permission of the High Tribunal, I should like to call the defendant Speer to the witness box. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
DR. HANS FLACHSNER [defense counsel]: With the permission of the High Tribunal, I should like to call the defendant Speer to the witness box. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Albert Speer was undoubtedly an enigma and Gitta Sereny tries her hardest to unravel his mysteries. Speer seemed a mass of contradictions, and I finished this book still undecided as to his character. I felt the book presents him as an actor who seldom showed his true face. Compelling. You find yourself willing Sereny to condemn him, but she treats her subject with fairness and respect - whether he deserved it or not. What more could you ask of a biographer?
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Albert Speer was Hitler's architect during the 30's and Minister for Armaments during the Second World War, and after the war he was the only high-ranking Nazi to apologize and to renounce National Socialism. He was tried at Nuremberg, where he expressed contrition but always maintained that he himself was unaware of the genocide perpetrated by his party. He pleaded guilty to using slave labour in his arms factories and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was probably only his cooperative attitude, contrasting with most of his co-accused, that saved him from the death penalty. The British Chief Prosecutor Lord Shawcross later said:
My own view is one of great surprise that Speer was so leniently dealt with, and I still think it wrong that his subordinate Sauckel, who worked under his instructions, was sentenced to death while Speer escaped.
After his release, Speer wrote several bestselling books on the Nazis and often appeared on TV and in the print media, apologizing for the Nazi regime but always denying knowledge of the "final solution". Many applauded his bravery for attempting to confront the horrors of that time but others doubted his sincerity, claiming he must have known. In this book, Sereny weighs up the evidence. An important piece of evidence was uncovered in the early 70's, which indicated that Speer was present at a conference when Himmler spoke explicitly of "extermination" of the Jews. Speer claimed to have left the conference before that speech, but Sereny suggests this is untrue.
Speer was a very complex and interesting character, and this book is a very detailed portrait of him. Though his remorse was undoubtedly genuine, there was always a self-serving element to his character. It was this that enabled him to ignore what was happening around him in 1930's Germany. He seems to have had no sense of personal morality at this point, blithely accepting National Socialist doctrine as gospel. Had he been born in another country he would undoubtedly have been a valuable and upstanding member of the society, as a man of intelligence and uncommon organizational skills. But to play by the rules in Hitler's Germany meant to facilitate crimes against humanity. Later he developed a conscience about this, but too late, and even then, it seems, he was not quite able to admit the full extent of his complicity to others, or probably even to himself.
This book is well-written, well-researched, and non-judgemental, which is important when dealing with a character as ambiguous as Speer. It is based on many long conversations with Speer himself, and many others close to him. It gets to the very depths of its subject, and also serves to demonstrate how Nazism came to seem acceptable, and even necessary, to many intelligent, rational and responsible people in 1930's Germany. Truly fascinating.
My own view is one of great surprise that Speer was so leniently dealt with, and I still think it wrong that his subordinate Sauckel, who worked under his instructions, was sentenced to death while Speer escaped.
After his release, Speer wrote several bestselling books on the Nazis and often appeared on TV and in the print media, apologizing for the Nazi regime but always denying knowledge of the "final solution". Many applauded his bravery for attempting to confront the horrors of that time but others doubted his sincerity, claiming he must have known. In this book, Sereny weighs up the evidence. An important piece of evidence was uncovered in the early 70's, which indicated that Speer was present at a conference when Himmler spoke explicitly of "extermination" of the Jews. Speer claimed to have left the conference before that speech, but Sereny suggests this is untrue.
Speer was a very complex and interesting character, and this book is a very detailed portrait of him. Though his remorse was undoubtedly genuine, there was always a self-serving element to his character. It was this that enabled him to ignore what was happening around him in 1930's Germany. He seems to have had no sense of personal morality at this point, blithely accepting National Socialist doctrine as gospel. Had he been born in another country he would undoubtedly have been a valuable and upstanding member of the society, as a man of intelligence and uncommon organizational skills. But to play by the rules in Hitler's Germany meant to facilitate crimes against humanity. Later he developed a conscience about this, but too late, and even then, it seems, he was not quite able to admit the full extent of his complicity to others, or probably even to himself.
This book is well-written, well-researched, and non-judgemental, which is important when dealing with a character as ambiguous as Speer. It is based on many long conversations with Speer himself, and many others close to him. It gets to the very depths of its subject, and also serves to demonstrate how Nazism came to seem acceptable, and even necessary, to many intelligent, rational and responsible people in 1930's Germany. Truly fascinating.
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is superbly researched and thorough. It is also tremendously exciting and sustains a level of analysis which brings not only Speer but the whole of that period into sharp focus. With the new A2 History exams involving synoptic papers which have as their starting the analysis of documentary evidence this book is an absolute must for the able student. Quite apart from Speer's equivocations about the fate of the Jews and his knowledge of such matters, the study offers views on the other key figures in the story and their roles. The debate about Hitler and his dealings with his henchmen is superbly illustrated. Gita Seregny leaves no doubt about the centrality of Hitler, but opens up very interesting reflections on the rest, especially Himmler and Bormann. The vicious infighting after 1943 is described with great detail and irony.The book pauses from time to time with reflections that cover a whole gamut of other issues.... which themselves are sufficiently penetrating to invite further study. A true piece of academic research and a tremendous read in the process.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Gripping Read
I have had this book on my shelf for two years, and finally a week away where I could tackle it. This book really takes you through his childhood right up to the end of his life,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. D. A. Thornton
Once over the first few chapters, it's unputdownable
The first couple of chapters about his early life are ok and I understand why they're there, but don't let them put you off. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Simasaurus
Germany on trial
Our obsession with the Third Reich I believe is down to two things. People want to know what it was like to live in such a society, and also to understand how basically decent... Read more
Published 5 months ago by BHA till I die
Excellent book
In this superb biography the author, who became a close companion of Speer in his latter years,unravels many of his testimonies and what it is revealed is a man who told a lot of... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Juggernaut
Why did they do that?
A thoroughly deceptive book that strolls relentlessly throughout its quest as it stalks its prey. Gitta takes a relational wander down to the long silent empty corridors of... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
Readable, interesting, innacurate and NOT a biography!!!!
The first time I read this, I went away feeling uncomfortable and I couldn't put my finger on why that was!
I have since read it twice more .... Read more
I have since read it twice more .... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Lyndseypops
Great research but a bit pious
This was a slightly pious book. Dont get me wrong I dont think Herr Speer was a 'nice' man. But he was tried at Nuremburg, served his sentence, gets out 20 years later and lo and... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Sontee
Good versus Evil
It has been awhile since anyone has written a review for this book so while I guess I am not adding anything new it's worth reminding people that this is an amazing book one that... Read more
Published on 5 July 2007 by J. Duducu
A must-read.
Gitta Sereny is an amazingly talented writer who in her book on Speer and her meetings/interviews with Speer himself, tries to unravel the enigma that was Speer. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2006 by M. Warburton
As good a glance into the person of Speer as it gets.
Gitta Sereny handles her subject as professionally and thoroughly as she had in her interviews with Treblinka's last commandant, F. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2001 by samuinka-berlin@t-online.de
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