Rather than comparing it to the authoritarian architecture of the postwar period (which was horrible), I think it's more fair to point out the actual inspiratio

Rather than comparing it to the authoritarian architecture of the postwar period (which was horrible), I think it's more fair to point out the actual inspiration for Speer. It was the City Beautiful movement and the existing examples of grand boulevards in imperial capitals. That main boulevard he envisioned lined by monuments and institutions of great importance was a German equivalent of basically Philadelphia's Franklin parkway or Paris' Champs-Elysees. Philadelphia razed entire city neighborhoods only decades earlier to build it. In fact, an almost identical vision to Speer's Berlin already existed. It was Washington DC. On a smaller scale, dozens of other cities had already embarqued on similar projects, Brussels Parc du Cinquantenaire is another on, or Budapest's parliament building and Heroes' Square. Germany was playing catch-up to what was fairly mundane practice. The only thing that gives pause is perhaps the Volkshalle, which has a little too much of a mine-is-bigger vibe when putting it next to DC's congress building.