The Good Nazi

by Van Der Vat, Dan; Vat, Dan Van Der; Speer, Albert

• ISBN13: 9780395652435
• ISBN10: 039565243X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-10-01
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

This is the real story of Albert Speer, manipulator of history and architect of his own legend. On the stand at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, Albert Speer was alone among the accused in showing anything like remorse: he denied any direct knowledge of Hitler's Final Solution yet accepted his share of the guilt as an unwitting collaborator. But was he really what he claimed to be? In this hard-hitting biography, Dan van der Vat reveals Speer as a sham and an opportunist, a "good Nazi" of another sort: a dedicated party servant who, promoted from his role as Hitler's architect to minister of wartime production, also became the Nazis' principal exploiter of forced labor. The first biography to be written free of Speer's personal influence, this is the fullest, most incriminating portrait yet of a ruthless, masterly actor who deceived the world in the role of a lifetime. A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year!

Author Biography

Dan Van Der Vat's earliest memories are of the Nazi occupation of his native Holland. He worked in Germany for years as chief correspondent for the London Times and has written several works of the Anglo-German naval history. He currently resides in Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, England.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
PROLOGUE: A Carnival of Interviews	1	(10)
PART I - ARCHITECT	11	(94)
1 Origins (1905-18)	11	(10)
2 Enter Hitler (1918-31)	21	(18)
3 Pillars of Light (1931-33)	39	(14)
4 Supping with the Devil (1933-37)	53	(15)
5 Redesigning Berlin (1937-38)	68	(15)
6 Evicting the Jews (1938-41)	83	(22)
PART II - MINISTER	105	(34)
7 In Todt's Footsteps (1942)	105	(24)
8 Hard Labour (1942-43)	129	(24)
9 Pinnacle of Power (1943)	153	(19)
10 Production Peaks (1943-44)	172	(19)
11 Fighters and Resistance (1944)	191	(23)
12 Total War (1944-45)	214	(25)
PART III - APOLOGIST	239	(125)
13 Put to the Question (1945-46)	239	(23)
14 Escaping the Noose (1946)	262	(21)
15 A Life-Support System (1946-53)	283	(21)
16 Daddy's Girl (1953-66)	304	(22)
17 Memoirs (1966-70)	326	(18)
18 One Jump Ahead (1970-81)	344	(20)
EPILOGUE: The Last Confession of Albert Speer	364	(6)
Notes	370	(14)
Acknowledgments	384	(2)
Sources and Bibliography	386	(5)
Index	391