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Albert Speer

The International Military Tribunal trials at Nuremberg [Nuernberg] in 1946 charged the defendants with four crimes. Count One charged all of the defendants with being "leaders, organizers, instigators, or accomplices in the formation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of, Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity." Count Two charged the defendants with crimes against peace by their participation "in the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression." Count Three charged the defendants with war crimes. Count Four charged the defendants with crimes against humanity. Speer was indicted under all four counts.

Professor Albert Speer's background and career, except for his lack of military experience, is reminiscent of that of Fritz Todt. Like Todt's, Speer's early career was in the field of construction. But, whereas Todt's special interest lay in methods of engineering technique, Speers's early interest, was in architectural planning and ornamentation. He was born 19th March 1905 in Mannheim, Baden and attended the Technical Institutes at Kalrksruhe, Munich, and Berlin. He obtained his engineering degree (Dipl. Ing.) from the latter, and stayed on for three years as a research student and faculty assistant. Speer joined the Nazi Party comparatively late in 1932, and formed a personal friendship with both Hitler and Goering. Hitler, as is well known, prided himself on his proficiency as an architect. In fact, he made many suggestions for the plans of what is Speer's best known work to the outside world - the reconstruction of the Reichskanzlei. In 1934 he was made Hitler's architect and became a close personal confidant. Shortly thereafter he was made a department head in the German Labor Front and the official in charge of capital construction on the staff of the cteputy to the Fuehrer, positions which he held through 1941.

Two of Speers's early appointments in the Party were that of Leiter, Amt "Schönheit der Arbeit" (Chief of the Bureau "Beauty of Labor") of the Strength Through Joy Movement (a branch of the German Labor Front) which involved the architectural ornamentation of public buildings and that of Unterabteilungsleiter der Reiphspropacrandaleitung technische and ktlnstlerische Austestaltung von Grosskuhdj>ebungen (Chief of the Sub-section "Technical and Artistic Arrangements for Public Mass Demonstrations and Official Meetings" of the Reich Propaganda Ministry). Another early appointment was to the newly created office cf the General Bauinspekteur der Reichshauptstadt (Inspector General of Construction for the Reich Capital). Although this office was mainly concerned with the remodelling of Berlin from an aesthetic point of view, it represented an important increase of Speer's functions and powers. For one thing, it led to the creation of the Baustab Speer (Construction Staff Speer). For another, it put Speer in control of the Binnenflotte or Inland Waterways Fleet, which he promptly renamed Transport-Flotte Speer."

It was, however, not until the outbreak of war, and through his contact with Goering, that his stature as a functionary began to increase appreciably, and eventually placed him in a position to become Todt's successor, if not actually his rival, during the former's lifetime. The Baustab Speer was enlarged to form a construction organisation of somewhat over 100,000 men, specialising in construction of airports and airport installations within Germany, The number of NSKK (National SozialistischeKraftfahr Korps or National Socialist Motor Corps) Units, or NSKK-Baustab Speer as they were called, which had always provided transportation for the organisation, were likewise increased and renamed the NSKK Motor Transport Standarte Speer (NSKK Motor Transport Regiment Speer).

On February 15, 1942, after the death of Fritz Todt, Speer was appointed chief of the Organization Todt and Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions (after September 2, 1943, for Armaments and War Production). The positions were supplemented by his appointments in March and April 1942 as General Plenipotentiary for Armaments and as a member of the Central Planning Board, both within the 4-year plan. Speer was a member of the Reichstag from 1941 until the end of the war.

On Todt's death on 9th February 1942, Speer inherited not only the leadership of the 0T but also all of the former's Party and government offices and functions. The most important of these numerous government functions was naturally that of head of the "Speer Ministry" or Ministry of Armament and War Production, (which under underwent a re-organisation during the summer and autumn of 1943, and another in the late summer of 1944). He was besides a member of the Zentrale Planting (Central Planning Board), the functions of which were comparable to that of a War Bconony Cabinet responsible directly to Goering under the Four Tear Plan. His most important Party rank was that of Reichsleiter (Member of the Nazi Party Supreme Directorate).

Speer incorporated his Baustab into the 0T Organisation when he took over its control. Most if not all, of the original NSKK Motor Transport Standarte Speer was attached to the DAK (Deutsche Afrika Korps) and to the Army units in Russia. It was nevertheless from the transport aspect that Speer*s name becomd most prominently connected with OT: the various stages by means of which the Legion Speer (the transportation unit of the 0T) was created. The Transportflotte Speer, was likewise attached to the 0T and performed similar services in bringing up supplies by waterways to coastal and canal sectors of the Organisation.

In a comparative estimate of the two men, Fritz Todt and Albert Speer, there is a decided temptation to describe the former in favorable terms at the expense of the latter. Todt, was from all accounts, a dynamic personality, impatient with administrative regulations. One might almost say that he executed a job by executing it. He had the true technician's ability of adapting the method of execution to the nature of ths operation. Without detracting from Todt's abilities in this respect, Speer obviously was a skilled politician. His abilities as an organiser seem to be on the administrative, rather than on the operational, side. He was said to be a good judge of men as far as picking executive assistants is concerned. Whether any one man, however, even of Todt's stature, could have met Germany's critical problem of war production with anything like the efficiency with which at one time Todt built the Siegfried Line is quite problematical.

The evidence introduced at Nuermberg against Speer under counts three and four relates entirely to his participation in the slave labor program. Speer himself had no direct ad- ministrative responsibility for this program. Although he had advocated the appointment of a General Plenipotentiary for the utilization of labor because he wanted one central authority with vhom he could deal on labor matters, he did not obtain administrative control over Sauckel. Sauckel was appointed directly by Hitler, under the decree of March 21, 1942, which provided that he should be directly responsible to Goering, as plenipotentiary of the 4-year plan.

As Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions and General Plenipotentiary for Armaments under the 4-year plan, Speer had extensive authority over production. His original authority was over construction and production of arms for the OKW. This was progressively expanded to include naval armaments, civilian production and finally, on August 1,1944, air armament. As the dominant member of the Central Planning Board, which had supreme authority for the scheduling of German production and the allocation and development of raw materials, Speer took the position that the board had authority to instruct Sauckel to provide laborers for industries under its control and succeeded in sustaining this position over the objection of Sauckel. The practice was developed under which Speer transmitted to Sauckel an estimate of the total number of workers needed. Sauckel obtained the labor and allocated it to the various industries in accordance wit11 instructions supplied by Speer.

Speer knew when he made his demands on Sauckel that they would be supplied by foreign laborers serving under compulsion. He participated in conferences involving the extension of the slave labor program for the purpose of satisfying his demands. He was present at a conference held during August 10 and August 12, 1942, with Hitler and Sauckel at which it was agreed that Sauckel should bring laborers by force from occupied territories where this was necessary to satisfy the labor needs of the industries under Speer's control. Speer also attended a conference in Hitler's headquarters on January 4, 1944, at which the decision was made that Sauckel should obtain "at least 4,000,000 new workers from occupied territories" in order to satisfy the demands for labor made by Speer, although Sauckel indicated that he could do this only with help from Himmler.

Sauckel continually informed Speer and his representatives that foreign laborers were being obtained by force. At a meeting of March 1, 1944, Speer's deputy questioned Sauckel very closely about his failure to live up to the obligation to supply 4,000,000 workers from occupied territories. In some cases Speer demanded laborers from specific foreign countries. Thus, at the conference August 10-12, 1942, Sauckel was instructed to supply Speer with "a further million Russian laborers for the German armament industry up to and including October 1942." At a meeting of the Central Planning Board on April 22, 1943, Speer discussed plans to obtain Russian laborers for use in the coal mines, and flatly vetoed the suggestion that this labor deficit should be made up by German labor.

Speer argued at Nuremberg that he advocated the reorganization of the labor program to place a greater emphasis on utilization of German labor in war production in Germany and on the use of labor in occupied countries in local production of consumer goods formerly produced in Germany. Speer took steps in this direction by establishing the so-called "blocked industries" in the occupied territories which were used to produce goods to be shipped to Germany. Employees of these industries were immune from deportation to Germany as slave laborers and any worker who had been ordered to go to Germany could avoid deportation if he went to work for a blocked industry. This system, although somewhat less inhumane than deportation to Germany, was still illegal. The system of blocked industries played only a small part in the over-all slave labor program, although Speer urged its cooperation with the Slave Labor Program, knowing the way in which it was actually being administered. In an official sense, he was its principal beneficiary and he constantly urged its extension.

Speer was also directly involved in the utilization of forced labor as chief of the Organization Todt. The Organization Todt functioned principally in the occupied areas on such projects as the Atlantic Wall and the construction of military highways, and Speer has admitted that he relied on compulsory service to keep it adequately staffed. He also used concentration camp labor in the industries under his control. He originally arranged to tap this source of labor for use in small out-of-the-way factories; and later, fearful of Himmler's jurisdictional ambitions, attempted to use as few concentration camp workers as possible.

Speer was also involved in the use of prisoners of war in armament industries but contended at Nuremberg that he utilized Soviet prisoners of war only in industries covered by the Geneva Convention.

Speer's position was such that he was not directly concerned with the cruelty in the administration of the slave labor program, although he was aware of its existence. For example, at meetings of the Central Planning Board he was informed that his demands for labor were so large as to necessitate violent methods in recruiting. At a meeting of the Central Planning Board on October 30, 1042, Speer voiced his opinion that many slave laborers who claimed to be sick were malingerers and stated: "There is nothing to be said against SS and police taking drastic steps and putting those known as slackers into concentration camps." Speer, however, insisted that the slave laborers be given adequate food and working conditions so that they could work efficiently.

In mitigation it must be recognized that Speer's establishment of blocked industries did keep many laborers in their homes and that in the closing stages of the war he was one of the few men who had the courage to tell Hitler that the mar was lost and to take steps to prevent the senseless destruction of production facilities, both in occupied territories and in Germany. He carried out his opposition to Hitler's scorched earth program in some of the western countries and in Germany by deliberately sabotaging it at considerable personal risk.

The Tribunal was of opinion that Speer's activities did not amount to initiating; planning, or preparing wars of aggression, or of conspiring to that end. He became the head of the armament industry well after all of the wars had been commenced and were under way. His activities in charge of German armament production were in aid of the war effort in the same way that other productive enterprises aid in the waging of war; but the Tribunal was not prepared to find that such activities involve engaging in the common plan to wage aggressive war as charged under count one or waging aggressive war as charged under count two. The Tribunal found that Speer was not guilty on counts one and two, but was guilty under counts three and four.

Speer was one of the few Nazi's to take responsibility for his part in the war crimes. From 1946 to 1966, while serving the prison sentence handed down from the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal, 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 portrayals of life within Hitler's inner circles, the rise and fall of the third German empire, and of Hitler himself.

Matthias Schmidt's Albert Speer: The End of a Myth, provides evidence of Speer's knowledge of the concentration camps and extermination of the Jews. He also provides numerous discrepancies in both Speer's testimony and in his memoirs. Matthias paints Speer as a ruthless and power hungry person that was well aware of the crimes being committed. This picture of Speer is quite the opposite of that portrayed by Speer himself -- as a "respectable Nazi" lured into Hitler's trance.