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Title: INSIDE THE THIRD REICH by Albert Speer ISBN: 0-684-82949-5 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (53 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Success at any price
Comment: I read with great interest Albert Speer's book "Inside the 3rd Reich". I believe that everybody interested in modern history should read about Hitler's Germany, and this book gives an intimate insider's view of the Inner Circle around the 'Fuehrer'. But is it sincere?
Just how captivating Speer's elaborately woven net of deception and self-deception, of partial admission of 'collective' guilt (and thus personal absolvation) is I experienced myself when reading "Inside the 3rd Reich". In particular when Speer describes his last visit in the 'Fuehrerbunker' and claims to have confessed his late opossition to Hitler's 'Scorched Earth' strategy, and when
he writes about the 'fit of weeping' that came over him after he realized the extent of destruction in Europe in the days after Hitler's death, one almost believes him that he
'didn't know' anything, just did his duty as any good German
for the war effort, and that his devotion to Hitler had blinded him against the inmesurable crime he helped to perpetrate.
Thus, almost from the first line on, Speer sets out to spring an elaborate trap, carefully, subtly - a trap for the
reader, almost inescapable. At the end of the book, the reader has fallen prey, to the illusion that Speer was basically a 'good guy', not really a 'Nazi' at all, and in fact wanted to even assasinate Hitler in the end.
In reality, Speer was even worse than Himmler, Bormann, Ley, Goering and the others, since in his case one cannot excuse his participation in the Nazi nightmare with the lack of intelligence. On the contrary: Speer was THE intellectual in this circle, rivalled only by Goebbels, yet Speer not a fanatic, but even worse - a technocrat in a void of morality, with the only selfish aim of advancing himself, of gathering power, maybe succeeding Hitler? Speer wanted success, success at any price. And this is Speer, dangerously intelligent, incredibly selfish, who set out to narrate "his" story, in which he appears to admit guilt but in fact absolves himself from responsibility. The aim? Success, again. And he got it. This book, a masterful piece of deception, dramaturgically remastering history (Speer's suicidal confession to Hitler never took place, for example) became THE best seller after WW II! As Speer said about Hitler once: You hardly recognize the devil when he puts his hand on your shoulder. True, indeed! Yet, the devil comes in many forms - and it appears that occasionally - he writes a book!
Yours Sincerely,
Imre Berger, PhD
Dept. of Biology, MIT
[email protected]
on "Inside the 3rd Reich" (Erinnerungen, by A. Speer)
Rating: 5
Summary: A CAPTIVATING, ENGAGING STORY
Comment: In 1989, during my Peace Corps service, I came across the book "INSIDE THE THIRD REICH" quite by surprise and could not put it down. I read it for hours nonstop.
The story that Speer relates here of his life and career in the Third Reich, first as Hitler's architect, and later as the Minister for Armaments and War Production (1942-1945) is gripping and compelling. You get a real, tangible sense of what the people (e.g. Goering, Hess, Himmler, Goebbels, Bormann, etc.) were like who played key roles in Nazi Germany.
This memoir does not read like a dry retelling of historical events. You feel yourself a witness to an unfolding drama of deceit, treachery, genocide, and war in the heart of the Third Reich. All of these events may seem incredible as Speer describes them. But they happened, and in reading "INSIDE THE THIRD REICH", you see how it was that Germany was led down the path to destruction by its political leadership.
Rating: 4
Summary: Still Popular
Comment: This is another World War II book that remains a popular read.
The book is a well written account of the role of "Hitler's Architect". Speer was a manager/architect that help Hitler plan and execute his plans to develop the German war effort. He helped in many facets of the war and together with Hitler they re-planned central Berlin to be the home of the Third Reich.
In retrospect we tend to think of Hitler as a single person but in fact he was surrounded by many like minded and capable individuals. One man can only lead. He needs helpers to do what the Germans did in World War II including the death camps. Speer was one of the many critical people. His role was less sinister than some of his fellow Nazis but it was still a pivot role in helping develop and execute the production of material for the war effort.
The book gives insights into the management and technical problems in running the war.
Excellent book that is still popular. Four or five stars.
Jack in Toronto
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Title: Nuremberg Diary by Gustave M. Gilbert ISBN: 0306806614 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.50 |
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Title: Albert Speer : His Battle with Truth by Gitta Sereny ISBN: 0679768122 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Hitler's Table Talk by Adolf Hitler, Norman Cameron, R. H. Stevens, Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper ISBN: 1929631057 Publisher: Enigma Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
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Title: Himmler: Reichs Fuhrer-SS by Peter Padfield ISBN: 0304358398 Publisher: Cassell Academic Pub. Date: 31 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Adolf Hitler : The Definitive Biography by John Toland ISBN: 0385420536 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 December, 1991 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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