The Making of a Gentleman Nazi

At the Nuremberg Trial and through his bestselling books, Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and minister, could successfully project an image of himself as the «gentleman Nazi». Using hitherto unexplored archival sources, this book looks at those aspects of his career that Speer retrospectively manipulated (e.g. his resistance to Hitler’s Nero order), to construct this image. The evolution of the «Speer myth», analysed here, shows how West Germany’s politics influenced Speer’s narrative, as well as the impact that his image had on Federal Republic’s efforts to cope with its past. This book also examines the role of historians and public intellectuals in and outside Germany in reinforcing the Speer myth – the British historian Hugh Trevor Roper and the Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal among others. ; Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and minister, projected an image of being the "gentleman Nazi" after the war. This work analyses, on the basis of new archival data, how cleverly he distorted history in order to disseminate his image, and the ways in which the "Speer myth" was reinforced by renowned public intellectuals in and outside of Germany. ; Speer and the Federal Republic’s politics of history – Speer in the Third Reich – Genesis of Speer’s image at the Nuremberg trial – Speer’s memorial writings – Hugh Trevor Roper’s contribution to the Speer myth – Speer and his biographers – Breloer’s "Speer und Er" – Speer’s friendship with Simon Wiesenthal