Was Albert Speer the "Good" Nazi?

World War 2 Question No. 9: Was Albert Speer the Good Nazi?

Answer. Albert Speer was Hitler's architect. Hitler had wanted to be an architect and so there was a natural affinity between the two men. Speer and Hitler built dream cities together. During the rise of the Nazis in Germany, Speer was given the job for making technical arrangements for the huge Nazi rallies. As with all his work, Speer showed great talent.

In 1941, Speer became Minister of Armaments and War Production after the death of Dr. Fritz Todt. Speer showed great talent in the job. Hitler and Goring had been lax in the armaments area after the successful Blitzkrieg campaigns in France and Poland and Speer finally got things moving again.

But Speer and the fanatical Joseph Goebbels, were still not satisfied with the German war effort. The two sought to recruit Goering to their side to counter the power of Martin Bormann and his associates. Bormann had a great deal of influence with Hitler. With the powerful Goering on their side, Speer and Goebbels thought they could overcome the influence of Bormann, et al, and move Hitler toward an all-out war effort.

At first, Goering agreed with them and then, for no apparent reason, dropped the matter and fell back into his state of lethargy (morphine?). Without Goering, the Speer - Goebbels alliance fell apart. If the group had been able to gain more power, the war would probably been extended because Speer and Goebbels knew very well Germany's war weaknesses and how to counter them. But they needed a leader of Goering's stature to advance their cause with Hitler.

Speer had close friendships with several wives of top German leaders. Speer seemed very sympathetic to their problems. The wives, iincluding Eva Braun and Magda Goebbels, confided in Speer whom they seemed to trust completely. These conversations make interesting reading in Speer's book, Inside the Third Reich, my favorite World War 2 book. The book provides a vivid description of the inner workings of the German establishment during the war.

Toward the end of the war, Speer turned against his friend, Hitler, and even considered assassinating him. He refused to carry out Hitler's orders to destroy the German infrastructure (Hitler believed the German people were unworthy of him).

Speer was tried at Nuremberg, where he confessed his part in the crimes of the Nazis. He was given 20 years in prison for his crimes.

Whether Speer was the good Nazi or not will be left for history to decide. He was certainly a cut above the average Nazi leader. But there are many who felt like Speer should have been given the death sentence.

We should all be thankful that the Speer - Goebbels - Goering alliance fell apart. Otherwise, we might still be fighting World War 2.