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Read his "Inside the Third Reich" many years ago. Had no idea until I read this article that he has been discredited. For anyone who hasn't read it, it can pret

Read his "Inside the Third Reich" many years ago. Had no idea until I read this article that he has been discredited. For anyone who hasn't read it, it can pretty much be summed up as "All I ever wanted to do was architecture, and I just got caught up in a series of events. I was surrounded by brutes and buffoons, and I just did my best with the situation I found myself in." Also some very valuable insights into Hitler's persona, but can you believe anything in that book now?

samdoidge 11y ago
It's a remark by the author and is simply an opinion - I wouldn't say this book has been 'discredited'.
- markdog12 11y ago
  Yeah, I was wondering myself how biased the article was.
Naritai 11y ago
'Discredited' is a strong term, but the problem is that many people, even senior Nazis, made similar arguments. Read, for example, Eichmann in Jerusalem to see an account from a senior member of the SS making a similar explanation when justifying why he managed transportation of Jews to concentration camps. The world's reaction has been to universally reject such arguments, which may be unfair in any particular case but is necessary for a proper accounting of war crimes.
rurban 11y ago
When I read that book I had to take some of his statements with a grain of salt. Even then, when the Posen proof was not yet known. As explained in this article he lied a lot. He had to, esp. the Posen incident where he got away with it even if it was totally unbelievable. We only got the proof recently. And his involvement in Todt's slave labour "Organization". He was his boss after all and got all the credit for its success. Even rising up to be the designated follower of Hitler. Todt got the death sentence for it and he successfully talked his way out of it. But then his made up prison stories to impress his fellow germans just broke it. He was a lousy architect after all, as Poelzig correctly found out. What was interesting for the americans then, how he managed to be so incredibly successful as manager of war-time economy. It was unbelievable and unexpected. McNamara would have been very proud of Speer's accomplishments. He was a kind of genius figure for the americans.
- maxxxxx 11y ago
  Obviously you can't take his book as your only source of truth but it provides a lot of insight into how the Nazi system worked. I found especially the parts about Hitler very interesting.

samdoidge 11y ago

It's a remark by the author and is simply an opinion - I wouldn't say this book has been 'discredited'.

markdog12 11y ago
Yeah, I was wondering myself how biased the article was.

Naritai 11y ago

'Discredited' is a strong term, but the problem is that many people, even senior Nazis, made similar arguments. Read, for example, Eichmann in Jerusalem to see an account from a senior member of the SS making a similar explanation when justifying why he managed transportation of Jews to concentration camps. The world's reaction has been to universally reject such arguments, which may be unfair in any particular case but is necessary for a proper accounting of war crimes.

rurban 11y ago

When I read that book I had to take some of his statements with a grain of salt. Even then, when the Posen proof was not yet known. As explained in this article he lied a lot. He had to, esp. the Posen incident where he got away with it even if it was totally unbelievable. We only got the proof recently. And his involvement in Todt's slave labour "Organization". He was his boss after all and got all the credit for its success. Even rising up to be the designated follower of Hitler. Todt got the death sentence for it and he successfully talked his way out of it. But then his made up prison stories to impress his fellow germans just broke it. He was a lousy architect after all, as Poelzig correctly found out. What was interesting for the americans then, how he managed to be so incredibly successful as manager of war-time economy. It was unbelievable and unexpected. McNamara would have been very proud of Speer's accomplishments. He was a kind of genius figure for the americans.

maxxxxx 11y ago
Obviously you can't take his book as your only source of truth but it provides a lot of insight into how the Nazi system worked. I found especially the parts about Hitler very interesting.