Albert Speer

:For the son of Albert Speer, also an architect, see Albert Speer (the younger)

Early years

Although Speer originally wanted to become a mathematician when he was young, he ended up following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and studied architecture. He began his architectural studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; his decision to study locally instead of at one of the more prestigious institutes was dictated by the inflation of 1923. In 1924 when the inflation had stabilised, Speer transferred his studies to the more esteemed Munich Institute of Technology, then in 1925 he again transferred this time to the Berlin Institute of Technology. It was there that he was under the tutelage of Heinrich Tessenow, Speer had a high regard for Tessenow and when he passed his exams in 1927 he became Tessenow's assistant. His duties as assistant involved teaching seminar classes three days a week. Although Tessenow himself never agreed with Nazism, a number of his students did, and it was they who persuaded Speer to attend a Nazi Party rally in a Berlin beer-hall in December 1930.

Related Topics:
Mathematician - Heinrich Tessenow - Nazism - Nazi Party

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Speer claims to have been apolitical as a young man; nevertheless, he did attend the rally. He was surprised to find Hitler dressed in a neat blue suit, rather than the brown one of the Nazi Party posters. Speer claimed to have been quite affected, not only with Hitler's proposed solutions to the threat of communism and his renunciation of the Treaty of Versailles but, also with the man himself. Several weeks later he attended another rally, though this one was presided over by Joseph Goebbels. Speer was disturbed by the way he had whipped the crowd into a frenzy, playing on their hopes. Although Goebbels' performance offended Speer, he could not shake the impressions Hitler made on him. The next day he joined the Nazi Party; he was member number 474,481. In this same year (1931) he married Margarete Weber.

Related Topics:
Treaty of Versailles - Joseph Goebbels - 1931 - Margarete Weber

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Speer's first commission as a Party member came in 1933 when Goebbels asked him to renovate the Propaganda Ministry. Goebbels was impressed with his work and recommended him to Hitler, who assigned him to help Paul Troost renovate the Chancellery in Berlin. Speer's most notable work on this assignment was the addition of the famous balcony from which Hitler often presented himself to crowds that assembled below. Speer subsequently became a prominent member of Hitler's inner circle and a very close friends to him, winning a special place with Hitler that was unique amongst the Nazi leadership. Hitler, according to Speer, was very contemptuous towards anybody he viewed as part of the bureaucracy, and prized fellow artists like Speer whom he felt a certain kinship with, especially as Hitler himself previously entertained architectural ambitions.

Related Topics:
1933 - Propaganda - Paul Troost - Bureaucracy

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