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When did Albert Speer give up?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Alfred C. Mierzejewski
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Type
Communications
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 1988 , pp. 391 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 Speer, Albert, Inside the Third Reich (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; Spandau (New York, 1976)Google Scholar. His other works include Infiltration (New York, 1981)Google Scholar; Technik und Macht (Esslingen, 1979)Google Scholar.

2 Fest, Joachim C., ‘Albert Speer and the immorality of technicians’, in The face of the Third Reich (New York, 1970), pp. 198–208Google Scholar.

3 Schmidt, Matthias, Albert Speer: Das Ende eines Mythos (Munich, 1983, English edn, New York, 1984), pp. 154–5Google Scholar. Schmidt also condemns Speer for having been a careerist, for having known of the annihilation of the Jews, and for having altered documents that he gave to the Western German Federal Archives. In choosing to discuss the question of the timing of Speer's demoralization, I am not implying that the other issues raised by Schmidt are of lesser importance. Probing them would require much more space and additional research. Briefly stated, I accept Schmidt's accusation concerning Speer's manipulation of the documentary record. However, Speer's motivations and his attitude toward the murder of the Jews appear to be a bit more complex than Schmidt contends.

4 Contrast with the discussion in Schramm, Percy Ernst, ed. Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht 7 (Munich, 1982), 55–74Google Scholar.

5 Speer, , Inside, p. 346Google Scholar.

6 Ibid. p. 358.

7 Ibid. p. 383 and Spandau, p. 220.

8 Speer, , Inside, pp. 346–7Google Scholar.

9 ‘Stenographische Niederschrift der 58. Sitzung der Zentralen Planung’, 25 May 1944, pp. 66, 72–3, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, section R3, file 1726. (Records from this archive will henceforth be cited as BA with the appropriate section and file numbers separated by a slash.)

10 Konzentrationserlass, , in ‘Nachrichten des Reichsministers für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion’, no. 41, 3 08 1944, pp. 29–33Google Scholar, National Archives, Record Group 243, file 101 (a)8. (Henceforth documents from this archive will be cited as NA, with the appropriate record group number after RG and the file number.)

11 Janssen, Gregor, Das ministerium Speer (Frankfurt/Main, 1968), p. 269Google Scholar citing BA R3/1552, fos. 231 ff.

12 Ibid. p. 185.

13 But by his own account he began to do this in June. Inside, p. 415.

14 Speer, , Spandau, p. 214Google Scholar.

15 Speer, , Inside, p. 462Google Scholar.

16 Speerchronik, 1944, II, 252, BA R3/1740, fo. 103.

17 Speer to Hitler, Berlin, 12 July 1944, NA microfilm, Tray 73, Roll 180, Frame 3392265 ff. (henceforth cited as NA with appropriate T, R and FR numbers); Speer to Hitler, Berlin, 20 July 1944, BA R3/1322, 43 ff. Both and other related documents are reprinted in Bleyer, Wolfgang, ‘Pläne der Faschischten Führung zum totalen Krieg im Sommer 1944’, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, XVII 10 (1969), 1312–29Google Scholar.

18 Stichwörte für die Rüstungskartei, 1 Aug. 1944, BA R3/1989.

19 Speer, , ‘Vortrag von Reichsminister Speer beim Kaiserlich-Japanischen Botschafter Oshima’, 8 08, p. 17Google Scholar, NA T-77, R 10, FR 721558.

20 Schmidt, , Mythos, p. 139Google Scholar citing Speer speech to Rüstungsobmänner, 31 Aug. 1944, BA R3/1554.

21 Rüstungsbefehl, 9 Sept. 1944, NA T-77, R-401, FR 1254660.

22 Speerchronik, 1944, II, 255a, BA R3/1740, fo. 107. Speer later derided this and his other trips as useless. See Inside, p. 399.

23 Boelcke, Willi A., Deutschlands Rüstung im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Hitlers Konferenzen mit Albert Speer 1942–1945 (Frankfurt/Main, 1969), pp. 426–7Google Scholar.

24 Situation in the Ruhr Area. Letter from Speer to Hitler, 11th Nov. 1944', reprinted in Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland, The strategic air offensive against Germany, 1939–1945, IV (London, 1961), 354, 356. Copy of the original is available in NA T-73, R-182, FR 3394854–60.

25 Speer order nr. 19861/44g, 21 Nov. 1944, BA R10 111/81.

26 Speech of Reich Minister Speer at Rechlin on the situation in the Ruhr, 1st December 1944, reprinted in Webster an d Frankland, IV, 360–1

27 Speer order ZA/Org. 206–145/44, 6 Dec. 1944, BA R10 VIII/5.

28 ‘Nachrichten des Reichsministers für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion’, no. 50, 14 12 1944, p. 515Google Scholar, NA RG 243, 100(a)9.

29 Speer, Informationsdienst, no. 3, 12 Dec. 1944, p. 1, BA R3/1558.

30 Speer, , Inside p. 416Google Scholar

31 Janssen, pp. 297–8 citing BA R3/1544, fos. 1–96.

32 Speer, , Inside, p. 420Google Scholar. See also Guderian Interrogation, 10 May 1946, International Tribunal, Military, Trials of the major war criminals (Nuremberg, 1946–1948) (hereafter cited as IMT with the appropriate volume number), vol. 41, Speer-44, p. 513Google Scholar.

33 Speer's letter to Hitler in BA R3/1532, fos. 1–10.

34 ‘Notprogramm des Führers’, 23 Jan. 1945, NA T-73, R-29, FR 315321–2.

35 Speer, , ‘Rechenschaftsbericht’, 27 01 1945, p. 24Google Scholar BA R3/1560 and in NA RG 243, 54(a)1. See also his letter to Hitler of 30 Jan. 1945 describing the economic and military implications of the loss of Upper Silesia in BA R3/1535, fos. 4–17 and Janssen, pp. 301–2.

36 Speer, , Inside, pp. 426, 429–31Google Scholar.

37 Ibid. p. 436.

38 Speer, M4187/45, Berlin, 19 Feb. 1945, NA RG 243, 200(a)130.

39 Speer, , Verkehrsstab, , ‘Richtlinien für die Wagenstellung’, Berlin 14 03 1945Google Scholar, BA R3/129, fo. 42.

40 Speer, to Hitler, , ‘Wirtschaftslage März–April 1945 und Folgerungen’, Berlin 15 03 1945Google Scholar, BA R3/1536 and NA T-73, R-180, FR 3392527–30.

41 Janssen, p. 311 citing BA R3/1537, fos. 1–6.

41 OKW/KTB, vol. 7, 1580–1, BA R3/1538 fos. 1–6.

43 Speer, , Inside, pp. 451–3Google Scholar.

44 Ibid. p. 455.

45 Speer Speech, Hamburg, 16 Apr. 1945, IMT vol. 41, Speer-30, 437–43. The date for this recording is frequently given as 11 Apr.

46 Speer, , Inside, p. 422Google Scholar.

47 Interrogation of Manfred von Poser und Gross Naedlitz, 14 June 1946, IMT, vol. 41, Speer-47 533.

48 Speer, , Spandau, p. 452Google Scholar.