145th out of 199 books
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147 voters
Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth
Albert Speer was not only Hitler's architect and armaments minister, but the Fuhrer's closest friend--his "unhappy love." Speer was one of the few defendants at the Nuremberg Trials to take responsibility for Nazi war crimes, even as he denied knowledge of the Holocaust. Now this enigma of a man is unveiled in a monumental biography by a writer who came to know Speer intim...more
Paperback, 757 pages
Published
October 29th 1996
by Vintage
(first published 1995)
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This book is a masterpiece of intellectual biography. If you have an interest in WWII or National Socialism--especially the operational aspects of the war for Speer was head of war materiel toward the end--this is the book for you. If you have an interest in the twisted mind of Hitler, with whom Speer was about as close as another human could be, this is the book for you. There's also a critical review of Speer's architecture; much of it overscale and ghastly but with a few successes such as the...more
Sep 04, 2012
Erik Graff
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nazi fans
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
biography
Prior to reading this biography I read Speer's autobiographical books Inside the Third Reich and Spandau. Much of the material in this work repeats material found in those volumes, but it is framed within the context of the ethical issues involved and the final years of Speer's life.
My interest in Nazism is, in part, an interest in the beliefs behind it. These beliefs were openly parochial. The German nation adopted, by election(!), a arete ethic which rated excellence above individual human liv...more
My interest in Nazism is, in part, an interest in the beliefs behind it. These beliefs were openly parochial. The German nation adopted, by election(!), a arete ethic which rated excellence above individual human liv...more
At about a quarter into the book:
I watched Inside the Third Reich for the first time in years, and when I found myself still thinking about it the next morning I decided it was time to read this. (I have already read and admired INSIDE THE THIRD REICH and THE SPANDAU DIARIES, and didn't want to reread them this time). Aside from an excess of armchair quarterbacking, this is excellent so far. In spite of her instinctive condemnation, Sereny is making a sincere effort to understand this complex ma...more
I watched Inside the Third Reich for the first time in years, and when I found myself still thinking about it the next morning I decided it was time to read this. (I have already read and admired INSIDE THE THIRD REICH and THE SPANDAU DIARIES, and didn't want to reread them this time). Aside from an excess of armchair quarterbacking, this is excellent so far. In spite of her instinctive condemnation, Sereny is making a sincere effort to understand this complex ma...more
Fascinating in all sorts of ways, of course, but one aspect of this book that's stayed with me is Sereny's exploration of that grey area between knowing and not knowing. The main question asked is: how much did Speer really know about Nazi atrocities - and how much would he admit he knew? Sereny pursues those questions doggedly, with one eye on the hard reality and another on Speer's willful refusal to face up to that reality.
Only once in the whole book (if I remember rightly) does she expand th...more
Only once in the whole book (if I remember rightly) does she expand th...more
This is a stunningly well researched, detailed and readable account of one of the key figures in Hitler's Germany. Sereny attempts to explore the very notion of culpability. What did it mean to be part of the Nazi leadership? How much did any individual know about what was happening?
The book itself is over-flowing with information. Many of the pages force you to stop and think. The subject matter itself is difficult and painful. By examining the consequences of Hitler taking power, through the l...more
The book itself is over-flowing with information. Many of the pages force you to stop and think. The subject matter itself is difficult and painful. By examining the consequences of Hitler taking power, through the l...more
Excellent! A very fine writer and sharp mind takes on one of the most intelligent and fascinating nazis. And much, much more. I especially like the parts where she interviews some of his contemporaries, it broadens the perspectives on both the man himself, the ideology and the ideas and minds of a lot of people of the era.
I come closer to some understanding of how so many people could follow such an ideology and such a man as Hitler and how it could go so far and so horribly wrong.
A little funny...more
I come closer to some understanding of how so many people could follow such an ideology and such a man as Hitler and how it could go so far and so horribly wrong.
A little funny...more
This fascinating book is more than a biography of Albert Speer. It explores his motivations and behavior; the author interviewed Speer extensively as well as many, many others including family that knew Speer. I'm glad I had read Albert Speer's memoir "Inside the Third Reich" first because it gave me a picture of how Speer viewed his participation in Nazi Germany. I was concerned that this book would be repetitive and the author does refer to his memoir but not too extensively; in some instances...more
Albert Speer was not only Hitler's architect and armaments minister, but the Fuhrer's closest friend--his "unhappy love." Speer was one of the few defendants at the Nuremberg Trials to take responsibility for Nazi war crimes, even as he denied knowledge of the Holocaust. Now this enigma of a man is unveiled in a monumental biography by a writer who came to know Speer intimately in his final years. Out of hundreds of hours of interviews, Sereny unravels the threads of Speer's personality: the gen...more
For all of you out there who are fascinated by the mystery surrounding the character of Albert Speer, this is definitely the book to read.
I consider myself as one of those people who cannot think of Speer as the cunning Nazi who got away with it. Neither could Gitta Sereny the author of this book. It is a fact that this book will not provide you with answers, it will give you a lot of details, based on actual documentary evidence, and you will have to reach your own conclusion.
I obviously refer...more
I consider myself as one of those people who cannot think of Speer as the cunning Nazi who got away with it. Neither could Gitta Sereny the author of this book. It is a fact that this book will not provide you with answers, it will give you a lot of details, based on actual documentary evidence, and you will have to reach your own conclusion.
I obviously refer...more
Nov 03, 2009
Michael
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Historians, Students, War buffs, history teachers
Recommended to Michael by:
Trevor Blake
Albert Speer remains one of the most fascinating men involved in the National Socialist regime, not least because of the two excellent memoirs he published after his detainment in Spandau for war crimes. Speer was in demand during the sixties and seventies as a speaker, and was the only war criminal to create for himself a successful media career after the war. This was not least because, rather than denying the crimes of the regime, he accepted them, accepted society's judgment of them as crime...more
A very good book that delves deep into the psyche of one Albert Speer: A brilliantly intelligent though naive man, emotionally unavailable, Nazi architect, Closest confidant and soul mate of Hitler... and a tragically sympathetic figure who semi-undeservedly took the burden of guilt for all Nazi crimes when no others would and bore them on his shoulders until the day he died.
Or at least that's what the author of this book seems to be saying. Or is that really just what Albert Speer wanted her to...more
Or at least that's what the author of this book seems to be saying. Or is that really just what Albert Speer wanted her to...more
Gitta Sereny has presented us with a history of the Third Reich, from the early heady days of idealism and hope, thru the suicides in the Bunker, thru the Nuremberg trials, and on thru the death of Albert Speer. She grew to like this man, believed in his redemption while acknowledging that his excuse for 'knowing nothing' because he was just too busy with work was a bit thin. Myself: Albert Speer lost his battle with truth, he was not redeemed and should have been hung after the Nuremberg trials...more
This is a long haul, but I couldn't put it down. As someone who has not a shred of organizational ability, i found the author's attention to detail and execution of the book to be mind blowing. I can't even begin to imagine the work that went into its production. She's an excellent writer and very perceptive. I was never much of a student of WWII so a lot of the material was new to me which made this all that much more interesting.
I never dreamed I'd find a nazi to be a sympathetic figure but I...more
I never dreamed I'd find a nazi to be a sympathetic figure but I...more
a c600 page account of Speer's life from youth to death via WW2 and Nuremberg. Absolutely fascinating and heartily recommended. Speer is one of the more interesting Nazis in that he acknowledged the evil that he had perpetrated. Read this and the two Antony Beevor books: Stalingrad + Berlin and you'll start seeing echoes of the past everywhere you go
I thought Sereny did an admirable job of walking a very careful line between creating a complex, human portrait of Speer, as opposed to a one-dimensional image of an evil war criminal, and yet not letting him off the hook regarding his own "general" but less than forthcoming "confession" of complicity in the Holocaust. She gently but insistently prods him to admit he knew more than he let on at Nuremburg trials, creating a gradually building narrative tension equal to any excellent novel. This i...more
I've always been fascinated by Albert Speer's enigmatic persona - I absolutely love Spandau Diaries, but I feel that he's 'painting' a portrayal of himself that I don't quite buy in that book. This book does a wonderful job in framing Speer's two other books in terms of his own moral questioning, but it doesn't give much more factual information about Speer if you have read Inside the Third Reich and Spandau Diaries. However, excerpts of Sereny's conversations with Speer alone make this book wor...more
Nov 07, 2012
Chris
marked it as hiatus
I'm a few chapters in, and I do like this book. But this book is also about 900 pages, and I have a huge pile of library books I need to work on. So, I'm going to return this one and come back to it later.
Speer was one of the few defendants at the Nuremberg Trials to take responsibility for Nazi war crimes, even as he denied knowledge of the Holocaust. Now this enigma of a man is unveiled in a monumental biography by a writer who came to know Speer intimately in his final years. Out of hundreds of hours of interviews, Sereny unravels the threads of Speer's personality: the genius that made him indispensable to the German war machine, the conscience that drove him to repent, and the emotional woun...more
Excellent account of Speer and his ilk from a tumultuous period of recent history. Informative, complex and wide-ranging historical work, Sereny researchs her subject well interviewing many of the key figures around the Nazi elite. Speer comes across as a complicated upper class German under the spell of Hitler's forceful personality. A flawed and ultimately repentant individual who escaped the death penalty at Nuremburg and thereafter embarks on a fasinating search for some form of reconciliati...more
Sep 06, 2007
Lou
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Shelves:
non-fiction
Ms. Sereny goes to great lengths in her attempt to display Speer as a misunderstood, repentant bad guy.
She fails miserably.
Speer was a criminal of the first degree and that he was not executed with the other Nazi criminals of his ilk was either a failing of the courts or a representation of the very true fact that Speer was quite the genius, especially in the art of covering up his crimes.
The book is exceptionally well-written, however, and I give full kudos to Ms. Sereny. This book is definitel...more
She fails miserably.
Speer was a criminal of the first degree and that he was not executed with the other Nazi criminals of his ilk was either a failing of the courts or a representation of the very true fact that Speer was quite the genius, especially in the art of covering up his crimes.
The book is exceptionally well-written, however, and I give full kudos to Ms. Sereny. This book is definitel...more
Jan 05, 2013
Hossam
marked it as to-read
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is a book I started several years ago but not yet completed. Like all my unfinished books I will complete it one day. However my initial review is as follows : Any interview with Speer is a farce. After all he fooled the Nuremberg tribunal. He was clearly a leading Nazi yet escaped the death penalty. Any denial of his knowledge and support for the Holocaust is complete nonsense so the book is really pointless. The only purpose of the book is to read about how he avoids telling the truth.
A superb and flawless historical account of Hitler's famous architecht.
Speer was an exceptionally talented architecht who did exactly what his boss (Hitler) wanted.
Speer narrowly squeeked by at Nuremberg, missing the death sentence.
He claimed he had no knowledge of the concentration camps and even though he admitted using Jewish slave labor, he claimed that he fed them all well.
Speer was one of Hitler's henchmen that lucked out.
Speer was an exceptionally talented architecht who did exactly what his boss (Hitler) wanted.
Speer narrowly squeeked by at Nuremberg, missing the death sentence.
He claimed he had no knowledge of the concentration camps and even though he admitted using Jewish slave labor, he claimed that he fed them all well.
Speer was one of Hitler's henchmen that lucked out.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Sereny vs. Fest | 1 | 4 | Sep 04, 2012 08:50am |
Gitta Sereny was a journalist, biographer and historian. She passed away in England aged 91, following a long illness.
Gitta attributed her fascination with evil to her own experiences of Nazism as a child of central Europe in the early 20th century. Hers was not a happy childhood. She was born in Vienna, the daughter of a beautiful Austrian actress, whom she later described as "without moral opin...more
More about Gitta Sereny...
Gitta attributed her fascination with evil to her own experiences of Nazism as a child of central Europe in the early 20th century. Hers was not a happy childhood. She was born in Vienna, the daughter of a beautiful Austrian actress, whom she later described as "without moral opin...more
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Jun 26, 2011 01:13pm
Jun 26, 2011 01:50pm