 Inside the Third Reich Books In Print, Audio Books. |
| Home » All Books |
|
|
Inside the Third Reich
buy bestselling books in print, audio books
|
 |
List Price: $18.00
Our Price:
$12.24
You Save: $5.76
|
| [ + Zoom ] [ Buy Now ] |
Book : Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
|
Inside the Third Reich description
From 1946 to 1966, while serving the prison sentence handed down from the Nuremburg War Crimes tribunal, Albert Speer penned 1,200 manuscript pages of personal memoirs. Titled Erinnerungen ("Recollections") upon their 1969 publication in German, Speer's critically acclaimed personal history was translated into English and published one year later as Inside the Third Reich. Long after their initial publication, Speer's memoir continues to provide one of the most detailed and fascinating portrayals of life within Hitler's inner circles, the rise and fall of the third German empire, and of Hitler himself. Speer chronicles his entire life, but the majority of Inside the Third Reich focuses on the years between 1933 and 1945, when Speer figured prominently in Hitler's government and the German war effort as Inspector General of Buildings for the Renovation of the Federal Capital and later as Minister of Arms and Munitions. Speer's recollections of both duties foreground the impossibility of reconciling Hitler's idealistic, imperialistic ambitions with both architectural and military reality. Throughout, Inside the Third Reich remains true to its author's intentions. With compelling insight, Speer reveals many of the "premises which almost inevitably led to the disasters" of the Third Reich as well as "what comes from one man's holding unrestricted power in his hands." -- Bertina Loeffler |
|
Inside the Third Reich Customer Reviews
|
|
|
|
♥♥♥♥♥
|
A very strange book
|
I've lived with Speer's memoirs now for what? over 30 years. I've read them numerous times. I can never tell when it's time to do it again. A repeat viewing of HBO's "Comspiracy" prompted my latest re-reading.
I come away from Speer's memoirs with some very odd and complex feelings. Speer seems so utterly detached from everything, and most of all from his own psychology, that reading his memoirs can sometimes inspire a kind of vertigo.
Those times when he seems close to revealing something genuinely authentic, he often sounds like a child or adolescent. This was most evident in his description of his illness during the war, when he was almost sidelined for good, and had to engage in some serious intrigue in order to keep his position. The combination of acute political acumen, and childlike frustration he displays is really very peculiar, and it pays to read that part of the book with great care.
There is no question that the book is written very clearly and beautifully. But the cameos of various Nazi leaders are just that: snapshots that seldom create a whole being. This aspect of the book is like looking at a scrapbook of photographs with short captions. We seldom get any real insight into these people. Just as Speer has very little insight into himself.
Oh, he says all the right things, and says them often. But there is a strange, forced quality to his numerous mea-culpas that leave a very peculiar miasma behind. I don't doubt that, in some way, Speer believes what he says about his guilt. There's also no doubt that Speer knew exactly what was going on in the concentration camps, but simply chose not to know. He was informed, but turned away from the information.
It's almost as if he never really did comprehend the scale of the Holocaust. That it was all unreal to him, both during, and after. The extreme demands of his work during the war would have contributed to this. He would have kept his head down and worked incredibly hard, like any good technocrat, and that would have made it easier to simply ignore the Hell directly in front of him.
All of this is unintentially revealing, I think. There are two books in Speer's Memoirs. The plain story he tells, and another story, between the lines, about a man who was so good at compartmentalizing his life that he could tolerate almost anything.
Speer's Memoirs are most disturbing when you realize that he is us: he is the "average man." Above average intelligence and training, yes. But average or below in his psychological insight. And that is how it happens. Most humans have no psychological intelligence at all. Or just enough to get by in the world. And that is how the Hitlers work their will. Speer's books are a cautionary tale in ways he never imagined, about how it can indeed happen here. It can happen anywhere. With the Speers of the moment facilitating every step. |
|