Frasi di Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Data di nascita:19. Marzo 1905
Data di morte:1. Settembre 1981
Albert Speer è stato un architetto e politico tedesco.
Fu architetto personale di Adolf Hitler, ruolo che gli valse il soprannome di "architetto del diavolo", e ministro per gli armamenti del Reich, oltre che uno dei massimi interpreti dell'architettura nazista, quale autore dei maggiori progetti monumentali e urbanistici promossi personalmente dal capo del nazionalsocialismo, delle cui idee architettoniche ed artistiche si fece originale interprete, ottenendo per ciò anche un riconoscimento internazionale quale la medaglia d'oro per il suo padiglione della Germania all'Esposizione universale di Parigi del 1937.
Semplice iscritto al Partito nazista sin dal 1931, nel 1942, a seguito della tragica morte di Fritz Todt, fu improvvisamente nominato da Hitler ministro degli armamenti della Germania nazista. Svolse tale incarico con straordinario successo grazie alle sue eccezionali doti organizzative. Conservò l'incarico di ministro della produzione e dell'economia nel governo di Karl Dönitz anche dopo il suicidio di Hitler, sebbene questi lo avesse destituito nel suo testamento per l'attiva opposizione dell'architetto alla politica della "terra bruciata", decisa da Hitler il 19 marzo 1945.
Arrestato dagli Alleati il 23 maggio 1945, fu processato a Norimberga e, riconosciuto colpevole per lo sfruttamento di manodopera in stato di schiavitù presso le industrie belliche tedesche, si assunse - unico tra gli imputati - la completa responsabilità morale per lo sterminio degli ebrei. Fu condannato a 20 anni di reclusione, scontati nel carcere di Spandau.
Frasi Albert Speer
„Se Hitler avesse avuto degli amici, io sarei stato suo amico.“
— Albert Speer
Davanti alla corte del processo di Norimberga
„By no means would I describe Adolph Hitler as sexually normal in his relationships with women. In the case of Eva Braun in particular, it seems clear to me that aside from occasional passionate episodes there was no sexual activity at all for long periods of time. The effect of this on Hitler I do not know, but Eva Braun's misery was well-known at headquarters. During the long dry spells she was irritable, impatient and quick to anger. She smoked much more and was incessantly lighting one cigarette after another. By contrast, when once in a great while Hitler's more human feelings expressed themselves in a sudden cloudburst, her manner changed completely. Eva at such times was radiant, flushed with happiness. Her natural warmth and high spirits returned, and she seemed to sparkle again like the cheerful and spontaneous girl she once was.
Though it seems obscene to pity one individual human being with so many millions dead, I do believe that Eva Braun was the loneliest woman I ever knew.“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
„Hitler's dictatorship was the first of an industrial estate in this age of modern technology, a dictatorship which employed to perfection the instruments of technology to dominate its own people. By means of such instruments of technology, eighty million persons could be made subject to the will of one individual. Telephone, teletype, radio, made it possible to transmit the commands of the highest levels directly to the lowest organs where they were executed uncritically“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
„The communications apparatus at headquarters was remarkable... It was possible to communicate directly with all important theaters of the war... They could be directed from Hitler's table in the situation room. The more fearful the situation, the greater was the gulf modern technology created between reality and fantasies with which the man at this table operated.“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
„As I see it today, Hitler and Goebbels were in fact molded by the mob itself, guided by its yearnings and its daydreams. Of course, Goebbels and Hitler knew how to penetrate through to the instincts of their audiences; but in the deeper sense they derived their whole existence from these audiences. Certainly the masses roared to the beat set by Hitler's and Goebbels' baton; yet they were not the true conductors. The mob determined the theme. To compensate for misery, insecurity, unemployment, and hopelessness, this anonymous assemblage wallowed for hours at a time in obsessions, savagery and license. The personal unhappiness caused by the breakdown of the economy was replaced by a frenzy that demanded victims. By lashing out at their opponents and vilifying the Jews, they gave expression and direction to fierce primal passions.“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
„Hitler knew nothing about his enemies and even refused to use the information that was available to him. Instead, he trusted his inspirations, no matter how inherently contradictory they may be and these inspirations were governed by extreme contempt and underestimation of the others.“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
„I am writing this as a profession of faith: I believe in a divine providence; I also believe in God's wisdom and goodness; I trust in his ways, even though they may seem matters of chance. It is not the mighty of the earth who determine the course of history. They think they are the movers, and they are moved.“
— Albert Speer
Spandau: The Secret Diaries
„I do not think that in those early days of September, Hitler was fully aware that he had irrevocably unleashed a world war. He had merely meant to move one step further. To be sure, he was ready to accept the risk associated with that step, just as he had been a year before during the Czech crisis; but he had prepared himself only for the risk, not really for the great war.“
— Albert Speer
Inside the Third Reich
