Albert Speer and the Nazi Party
‘History is about winners” how accurate is this statement in the relation to the personality you have studied.
Historians are divided on the extent to which Albert Speer contributed to Nazi Germany during World War 2 and prior to it as Hitler’s architect. Speer was a winner as he became Reich minister of armaments and war production, becoming second in command (inside the third Reich). His success extended further in Nuremburg as he escaped with his life. However personalities are remembered as winners in history and Speer is now remembered as a deceitful Nazi who attempted to put his name down in history as a great historical figure.
Speer won the role of armaments minister as it was given to him, and he is known in history for his effective skills as he increased production by 300% with an increase of 30% labour hence increasing the war by 2 years. General Anderson states “if I knew what this man was achieving I would have sent the entire American eighth air force to put him underground”. However this success was short lived as he was trialled for the poor living standard of the labourers. Furthermore he was judged at Nuremburg for the reasons in improving the life style as he stated that he did it to improve the work yield and not for humanitarian reason.
In 1944 Speer openly opposed the scorched earth policy even though he was risking his life. In his memoirs he states that he did it for the sake of the German people to re-establish a country after the war, but historians such as Sereny and Schmidt have judged the reliability of this information. Speer’s motive for opposing the policy could be seen as he was “second in command” and was likely to maintain a high position in the post-war government and to further be remembered in history as a great historical figure.
Schmidt believes that Speer was “a narrow minded idealist, who offered his services to any superior force”. According to Schmidt he was giving his services to the superior allies in order to save
Historians are divided on the extent to which Albert Speer contributed to Nazi Germany during World War 2 and prior to it as Hitler’s architect. Speer was a winner as he became Reich minister of armaments and war production, becoming second in command (inside the third Reich). His success extended further in Nuremburg as he escaped with his life. However personalities are remembered as winners in history and Speer is now remembered as a deceitful Nazi who attempted to put his name down in history as a great historical figure.
Speer won the role of armaments minister as it was given to him, and he is known in history for his effective skills as he increased production by 300% with an increase of 30% labour hence increasing the war by 2 years. General Anderson states “if I knew what this man was achieving I would have sent the entire American eighth air force to put him underground”. However this success was short lived as he was trialled for the poor living standard of the labourers. Furthermore he was judged at Nuremburg for the reasons in improving the life style as he stated that he did it to improve the work yield and not for humanitarian reason.
In 1944 Speer openly opposed the scorched earth policy even though he was risking his life. In his memoirs he states that he did it for the sake of the German people to re-establish a country after the war, but historians such as Sereny and Schmidt have judged the reliability of this information. Speer’s motive for opposing the policy could be seen as he was “second in command” and was likely to maintain a high position in the post-war government and to further be remembered in history as a great historical figure.
Schmidt believes that Speer was “a narrow minded idealist, who offered his services to any superior force”. According to Schmidt he was giving his services to the superior allies in order to save