What do you think?
Rate this book
Infiltration: How Heinrich Himmler Schemed to Build an SS Industrial Empire
Examines Nazi Germany's industrial and armament struggles, revealing the rivalry between Speer and Himmler, and discusses Speer's attempts to save Jewish workers and his coming to terms with his own moral responsibility
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1980
7 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Albert Speer
45 books107 followersBerthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
An architect by training, Speer joined the Nazi Party in 1931. His architectural skills made him increasingly prominent within the Party, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle. Hitler commissioned him to design and construct structures including the Reich Chancellery and the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg. In 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin. In this capacity he was responsible for the Central Department for Resettlement that evicted Jewish tenants from their homes in Berlin. In February 1942, Speer was appointed as Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. Using misleading statistics, he promoted himself as having performed an armaments miracle that was widely credited with keeping Germany in the war.[1] In 1944, Speer established a task force to increase production of fighter aircraft. It became instrumental in exploiting slave labor for the benefit of the German war effort.
After the war, Albert Speer was among the 24 "major war criminals" charged with the crimes of the Nazi regime before the International Military Tribunal. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, principally for the use of slave labor, narrowly avoiding a death sentence. Having served his full term, Speer was released in 1966. He used his writings from the time of imprisonment as the basis for two autobiographical books, Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: The Secret Diaries. Speer's books were a success; the public was fascinated by an inside view of the Third Reich. He died of a stroke in 1981.
Through his autobiographies and interviews, Speer carefully constructed an image of himself as a man who deeply regretted having failed to discover the crimes of the Third Reich. He continued to deny explicit knowledge of, and responsibility for, the Holocaust. This image dominated his historiography in the decades following the war, giving rise to the "Speer Myth": the perception of him as an apolitical technocrat responsible for revolutionizing the German war machine. The myth began to fall apart in the 1980s, when the armaments miracle was attributed to Nazi propaganda. Adam Tooze wrote in The Wages of Destruction that the idea that Speer was an apolitical technocrat was "absurd". Martin Kitchen, writing in Speer: Hitler's Architect, stated that much of the increase in Germany's arms production was actually due to systems instituted by Speer's predecessor (Fritz Todt) and that Speer was intimately aware of and involved in the "Final Solution", evidence of which has been conclusively shown in the decades following the Nuremberg Trials.
An architect by training, Speer joined the Nazi Party in 1931. His architectural skills made him increasingly prominent within the Party, and he became a member of Hitler's inner circle. Hitler commissioned him to design and construct structures including the Reich Chancellery and the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg. In 1937, Hitler appointed Speer as General Building Inspector for Berlin. In this capacity he was responsible for the Central Department for Resettlement that evicted Jewish tenants from their homes in Berlin. In February 1942, Speer was appointed as Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. Using misleading statistics, he promoted himself as having performed an armaments miracle that was widely credited with keeping Germany in the war.[1] In 1944, Speer established a task force to increase production of fighter aircraft. It became instrumental in exploiting slave labor for the benefit of the German war effort.
After the war, Albert Speer was among the 24 "major war criminals" charged with the crimes of the Nazi regime before the International Military Tribunal. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, principally for the use of slave labor, narrowly avoiding a death sentence. Having served his full term, Speer was released in 1966. He used his writings from the time of imprisonment as the basis for two autobiographical books, Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: The Secret Diaries. Speer's books were a success; the public was fascinated by an inside view of the Third Reich. He died of a stroke in 1981.
Through his autobiographies and interviews, Speer carefully constructed an image of himself as a man who deeply regretted having failed to discover the crimes of the Third Reich. He continued to deny explicit knowledge of, and responsibility for, the Holocaust. This image dominated his historiography in the decades following the war, giving rise to the "Speer Myth": the perception of him as an apolitical technocrat responsible for revolutionizing the German war machine. The myth began to fall apart in the 1980s, when the armaments miracle was attributed to Nazi propaganda. Adam Tooze wrote in The Wages of Destruction that the idea that Speer was an apolitical technocrat was "absurd". Martin Kitchen, writing in Speer: Hitler's Architect, stated that much of the increase in Germany's arms production was actually due to systems instituted by Speer's predecessor (Fritz Todt) and that Speer was intimately aware of and involved in the "Final Solution", evidence of which has been conclusively shown in the decades following the Nuremberg Trials.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 23, 2025
Harte, aber lohnende Geduldsprobe, ausführliche Rezi später.
April 9, 2016
Author Speer served two decades imprisonment for war crimes committed while he served in the German Nazi government, most prominently as Minister for Armaments and War Production. His memoir of that, emphasizing his relationship with Hitler, was published as Inside the Third Reich. Unlike others on the dock in Nuremburg, Speer accepted some responsibility and expressed remorse for his use of slave labor during the war. This book continues the critical self-examination of his memoir and subsequent Prison Diaries, but it is more than that. Its focus is on the conflicts between his ministry, given the exigencies of war and retreat, and the offices of the SS, seen as incompetent competitors intent on establishing a state within the state. As such, it's a technocratic defense of his own actions as a minister of state and an attack on Heinrich Himmler, his apparatus and the irrationalities of the Nazi regime.
This book is highly detailed, probably a great resource for researchers, but likely boring for general readers.
This book is highly detailed, probably a great resource for researchers, but likely boring for general readers.
July 20, 2025
Heinrich Himmler was a weasley looking man with beady little eyes and a shady character. He would go on to become the leader of the SS during the Nazi regime, becoming close with Adolf Hitler and other top Nazis. He enforced the racial ideology, and created the systematic genocide (with full support from the top dogs). This book delves into how he schemed and weaseled his way to the top and how he orchestrated large scale industrial murder of civilians.
This book was written by Albert Speer, a German architect that became close to Adolf Hitler. He was given the position of Minister of Armaments and Production, using slave labor from those who were interned in concentration camps. As a person, I am not terribly impressed with Speer. I do not find that he took appropriate accountability or showed significant remorse for his relationships with other Nazis or for his role in the Nazi war machine or the genocide of millions of people. In fact, he denied them until the bitter end, which is disrespectful. As an author, I find him to be a decent storyteller. I think his personal accounts are valuable to the historical record, as he is a primary source with direct knowledge of events and people involved. I think that it is wise to take some things he says at face value and some things he says with a grain of salt. This is my opinion based on other interviews and further research into his person.
This book was written by Albert Speer, a German architect that became close to Adolf Hitler. He was given the position of Minister of Armaments and Production, using slave labor from those who were interned in concentration camps. As a person, I am not terribly impressed with Speer. I do not find that he took appropriate accountability or showed significant remorse for his relationships with other Nazis or for his role in the Nazi war machine or the genocide of millions of people. In fact, he denied them until the bitter end, which is disrespectful. As an author, I find him to be a decent storyteller. I think his personal accounts are valuable to the historical record, as he is a primary source with direct knowledge of events and people involved. I think that it is wise to take some things he says at face value and some things he says with a grain of salt. This is my opinion based on other interviews and further research into his person.
Read
December 30, 2025Aika moni arkkitehti syyllistyy rikoksiin ihmiskuntaa vastaan, mutta harva ihan tällä tasolla.
July 9, 2018
I wrote the below review about two years ago, in 2016, and have since gone ahead and read the book from cover to cover. I still agree with most of what it says - this book is boring, technical, and highly subjective - but I'm going to upgrade it one star because it was possible for me to finish it. I actually think where this book will be most valuable to historians is in piecing together Speer's ambiguous postwar legacy, and in that sense it's a shame that Gitta Sereny didn't give it more attention in Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth. I also had some problems with the translation, especially the inconsistent translations of SS ranks, which made it hard at times to figure out who was superior to whom. The book ends with a series of "appendices" which are more like incomplete chapters or essays that didn't fit into the rest of the book. This may be more common in German publishing, but the fact that the American publisher left it in is a testament to their perception that a new Speer book would sell well, no matter how rambling and dull it was.
I’m provisionally giving this book 1 star, because I tried twice to read it and got too bored to finish. That was half my life ago, however, and someday I’m going to need to return to it and read it as a more mature, educated person. Looking it over again, I think it might be more interesting than I thought. For now, however, I’m going to try to reproduce my twentysomething criticisms.
Albert Speer wrote this book after his considerable success with “Inside the Third Reich” and “Spandau,” hoping no doubt for another success as the moderate, contrite voice of the Nazi high echelons. He claims to have started it with the intention of writing a history of the armaments industry in Germany during World War Two, the area for which his ministry was responsible. But, he says, as he went through the documents of the time, he discovered how the powerful and vast bureaucracy of the S.S. had fought him at every turn, and how Himmler had hoped to make his organization the dominant power in the postwar Reich, and that is what he wrote about instead.
I said that I found this book boring, and that was my biggest problem with it at the time I read it. Most of it consists of highly technical details about materials, factories, production numbers, and official and unofficial conferences. It is not a memoir or biography, nor is it a discussion of the most heinous acts of the S.S., it is an exploration of their interference with private industry, and that isn’t going to appeal to many readers. (It may be a valuable historical record, however, which is part of why I want to come back to it). The other problem is that Speer has fallen into the trap of reproducing his own rivalries with Himmler and others in the Nazi hierarchy (including Bormann, Lammers, and Goering) from his subjective viewpoint, without seeing that he was as much a part of the “problem” of a squabbling and back-stabbing court as his enemies were. In choosing Himmler as his villain, he also reproduces the “alibi of a nation” argument – it wasn’t me, it was the guys in black hats (and uniforms) that did all the evil of the Third Reich. (In that sense, however, the book may more accurately reflect Speer’s weaknesses as a witness).
If you are serious about detailed study of the technical workings or intrigues of the Third Reich, this book may have some value, but it is not an interesting read, and its biases are only too clear. Fair warning.
I’m provisionally giving this book 1 star, because I tried twice to read it and got too bored to finish. That was half my life ago, however, and someday I’m going to need to return to it and read it as a more mature, educated person. Looking it over again, I think it might be more interesting than I thought. For now, however, I’m going to try to reproduce my twentysomething criticisms.
Albert Speer wrote this book after his considerable success with “Inside the Third Reich” and “Spandau,” hoping no doubt for another success as the moderate, contrite voice of the Nazi high echelons. He claims to have started it with the intention of writing a history of the armaments industry in Germany during World War Two, the area for which his ministry was responsible. But, he says, as he went through the documents of the time, he discovered how the powerful and vast bureaucracy of the S.S. had fought him at every turn, and how Himmler had hoped to make his organization the dominant power in the postwar Reich, and that is what he wrote about instead.
I said that I found this book boring, and that was my biggest problem with it at the time I read it. Most of it consists of highly technical details about materials, factories, production numbers, and official and unofficial conferences. It is not a memoir or biography, nor is it a discussion of the most heinous acts of the S.S., it is an exploration of their interference with private industry, and that isn’t going to appeal to many readers. (It may be a valuable historical record, however, which is part of why I want to come back to it). The other problem is that Speer has fallen into the trap of reproducing his own rivalries with Himmler and others in the Nazi hierarchy (including Bormann, Lammers, and Goering) from his subjective viewpoint, without seeing that he was as much a part of the “problem” of a squabbling and back-stabbing court as his enemies were. In choosing Himmler as his villain, he also reproduces the “alibi of a nation” argument – it wasn’t me, it was the guys in black hats (and uniforms) that did all the evil of the Third Reich. (In that sense, however, the book may more accurately reflect Speer’s weaknesses as a witness).
If you are serious about detailed study of the technical workings or intrigues of the Third Reich, this book may have some value, but it is not an interesting read, and its biases are only too clear. Fair warning.
September 25, 2021
Bought it September 1st 1981, the 40th anniversary of the start of W.W.ll. Now forty years later I finally got around to reading it. (Not the same copy, though.) Have read a ton of books on the war since. I've forgotten more than most people know about this subject. However in retrospect, I'm glad I waited.
This book is a bit of a slog to get through and not for a newbie just getting into the subject. Dry as the Sahara Desert in a drought, Speers writing would put off anyone, save someone willing to put in the time to read this story. And this is a fascinating story about Himmler's desire to build his own industrial empire that should be explored further by a competent historian, unencumbered by Speer's desired "truthfulness."
This book is a bit of a slog to get through and not for a newbie just getting into the subject. Dry as the Sahara Desert in a drought, Speers writing would put off anyone, save someone willing to put in the time to read this story. And this is a fascinating story about Himmler's desire to build his own industrial empire that should be explored further by a competent historian, unencumbered by Speer's desired "truthfulness."
December 21, 2022
Albert says that Himmler is a schemer.
According to Albert Himmler is placing his key people in a strategic place to create an SS empire separate from the government.
Someone (Ernst Rohm) with brown shirts got their comeuppance when they got too cocky.
Read and see what happens to the SS with their blow-by-blow struggle. Harlemer builds the SS into the most powerful armed entity in Germany. “Oh! What a tangled web we weave…”
Thank goodness we in the U.S. let the IRS get away with it without dispatching the organization.
According to Albert Himmler is placing his key people in a strategic place to create an SS empire separate from the government.
Someone (Ernst Rohm) with brown shirts got their comeuppance when they got too cocky.
Read and see what happens to the SS with their blow-by-blow struggle. Harlemer builds the SS into the most powerful armed entity in Germany. “Oh! What a tangled web we weave…”
Thank goodness we in the U.S. let the IRS get away with it without dispatching the organization.
July 12, 2022
This is the third book by Albert Speer. It is just like the title insinuates a cheap cash grab about nonsense. I assume he just was running low on cash before his death. His other two books "Inside the Third Reich"and "Spandau Diaries" are fascinating portraits into the Life and times of a man who was at one time with the second most powerful man in theThird Reich and probably Hitler's best friend! Read those. This is just a boring, slow book about tree fur.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2017
Again it probably deserves better than this rating, but either the author or the narrator (I read whatever version the Library of Congress used in their audio recording) had an ability to put me to sleep quickly almost every time I tried to get in a few chapters.
October 18, 2023
Albert says that Himmler is a schemer.
According to Albert Himmler is placing his key people in a strategic place to create an SS empire separate from the government.
Someone (Ernst Rohm) with brown shirts got their comeuppance when they got too cocky.
Read and see what happens to the SS with their blow-by-blow struggle. Harlemer built the SS into the most powerful armed entity in Germany. “Oh! What a tangled web we weave…”
Thank goodness we in the U.S. let the IRS get away with it without dispatching the organization.
According to Albert Himmler is placing his key people in a strategic place to create an SS empire separate from the government.
Someone (Ernst Rohm) with brown shirts got their comeuppance when they got too cocky.
Read and see what happens to the SS with their blow-by-blow struggle. Harlemer built the SS into the most powerful armed entity in Germany. “Oh! What a tangled web we weave…”
Thank goodness we in the U.S. let the IRS get away with it without dispatching the organization.
August 7, 2022
Fascinating
Read
January 18, 2019I have two different editions.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews