Albert Speer Essay

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Much like any other person within history, Albert Speer’s background and historical context ultimately shaped who he became and what he was able to accomplish. Speer’s childhood, family life and early career are best considered as his background, determining his personality, aspirations and political alliance. Context provided Speer with the framework for which he was able to grow as a professional and as a human being. The 1929 Depression, failure of the Weimar Republic and rise to power by the Nazi party ultimately decided who he would become. Van der Vat, in his book The Good Nazi: The Life and Lies of Albert Speer, suggests that the coldness of Speer’s childhood trained him for indifference in all aspects of his life. Speer himself commented that growing up, “I [Speer] despised those among my schoolmates who were finding their first pleasures in dancing, wine and cigarettes.” We can tell that Speer was a rather introverted child, who did not care for many around him, which came about as the result of neglect by his mother and father. This neglect ultimately lead to the coldness and indifference that would cause him to commit many atrocities throughout his Nazi career. Speer’s father was a very successful architect, and so Speer was to be as well. Had Speer not been forced into the architect profession, then his position and role in the Nazi party would have been completely different, with WWII potentially ending a whole 6 months earlier. The Nazi Party’s rise in popularity following the 1929 Depression meant that Speer was exposed to their ideas and philosophies. This was because of the position that Speer held at this time. As a teacher at Berlin’s Institute of Technology, many of Speer’s students were National Socialists, and although he was teaching Architecture, politics tended to dominate his seminars. Although for quite a time Speer resisted the
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