Speer, Albert (äl`bĕrt shpār), 1905–81, German architect and National Socialist (Nazi) leader. A member of the Nazi party from 1931, he became its official architect after Hitler came to power. His grandiose but coldly eclectic designs include the stadium at Nuremberg (1934). A highly efficient organizer, Speer became (1942) minister for armaments, succeeding the engineer Fritz Todt. In 1943 he also took over part of Hermann Goering's responsibilities as planner of the German war economy. From Todt, Speer inherited the Organisation Todt (OT), an organization using forced labor for the construction of strategic roads and defenses. Under Speer's direction, economic production reached its peak in 1944, despite Allied bombardment. In the last months of the war Speer did much to thwart Hitler's scorched-earth policy, which would have devastated Germany. Largely because of the OT's wide use of slave labor, Speer was sentenced (1946) to imprisonment for 20 years by the Nuremberg war-crimes tribunal. He was released from Spandau war crimes prison in 1966.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, Inside the Third Reich (tr. 1970); biographies by W. Hamsher (1970), G. Sereny (1995), and J. Fest (2002).

Speer, Albert

(born March 19, 1905, Mannheim, Baden, Ger.—died Sept. 1, 1981, London, Eng.) German Nazi official. He became an architect in 1927 and an active member of the Nazi Party in 1931. He impressed Adolf Hitler with his efficiency and talent and was appointed chief architect of the Third Reich in 1933. He designed the parade grounds and banners of the Nazi rallies held for the party congresses, including the 1934 Nürnberg Rally (see Nürnberg Rallies) filmed by Leni Riefenstahl. In 1942 he became minister for armaments and war production and expanded the system of conscript and slave labour that maintained Germany's wartime productivity. Speer confessed his guilt at the Nürnberg trials, and he served 20 years in prison. His published works include Inside the Third Reich (1969) and Spandau (1975).