Editing Albert Speer

|crimes = [[War crimes]]<br>Forced labor<br>Conspiracy<br>[[Crimes against humanity]]<br>[[Genocide]]<br>Corruption<br>[[Anti-Semitism]]<br>[[Polonophobia]]<br>

|hobby = Building weapons<br>Writing books}}{{Quote|A new large-scale war will end with the destruction of human culture and civilization. Therefore, this this trial must contribute toward preventing such degenerate wars in the future, and toward establishing rules whereby human beings can live together.|Speer at the Nuremberg Trials.}}

'''Albert Speer''' (March 19^th, 1905 – September 1^st, 1981) was a German architect who was, for <nowiki> </nowiki>most of [[World War II]], Minister of Armaments and War Production for [[Nazi Germany]]. Speer was [[Adolf Hitler]]’s chief architect before assuming ministerial office. As "the Nazi who said sorry", he accepted moral responsibility at the Nuremberg trials and in his memoirs for complicity in crimes of the Nazi regime, while insisting he had been ignorant of [[The Holocaust|the Holocaust]].

Speer began his architectural studies at the University of Karlsruhe instead of a more highly acclaimed institution because the hyperinflation crisis of 1923 limited his parents' income. In 1924 when the crisis had abated, he transferred to the "much more reputable" Technical University of Munich. In 1925 he transferred again, this time to the Technical University of Berlin where he studied under Heinrich Tessenow, whom Speer greatly admired.

 

After passing his exams in 1927, Speer became Tessenow's assistant, a high honor for a man of 22. As such, Speer taught some of his classes while continuing his own postgraduate studies. In Munich Speer began a close friendship, ultimately spanning over 50 years, with Rudolf Wolters, who also studied under Tessenow.

 

In mid-1922, Speer began courting Margarete (Margret) Weber (1905–1987), the daughter of a successful craftsman who employed 50 workers. The relationship was frowned upon by Speer's class-conscious mother, who felt the Webers were socially inferior. Despite this opposition, the two married in Berlin on August 28, 1928; seven years elapsed before Margarete was invited to stay at her in-laws' home. The couple would have six children together, but Albert Speer grew increasingly distant from his family after 1933. He remained so even after his release from imprisonment in 1966, despite their efforts to forge closer bonds.

After the war, he was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the Nazi regime, principally for the use of forced labor. Despite repeated attempts to gain early release, he served his full sentence, most of it at Spandau Prison in West Berlin. Following his release in 1966, Speer published two bestselling autobiographical works, ''Inside the Third Reich'' and ''Spandau: The Secret Diaries'', detailing his close personal relationship with Hitler, and providing readers and historians with a unique perspective on the workings of the Nazi regime. He later wrote a third book, ''Infiltration'', about the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]''. Speer died following a stroke on September 1^st, 1981 while on a visit to London.

*Golden [[Hitler Youth]] Badge (with Oak Leaves)

[[Category:Imprisoned]]

[[Category:Villains of World War 2]]

[[Category:Animal Cruelty]]