Albert Speer

Architect

Birthday March 19, 1905

Birth Sign Pisces

Birthplace Mannheim, Germany

DEATH DATE Sep 1, 1981 (76)

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About

The Third Reich's chief architect who also served as Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. He was responsible for the Reich Chancellery, Nuremberg's Zeppelinfeld stadium, and the Berlin reconstruction plan.

Before Fame

His education originally suffered because of the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, which forced him to enroll in the less prestigious University of Karlsruhe. He was eventually able to transfer to the Technical University of Munich and later to the Technical University of Berlin. He joined the Nazi Party in 1931.

Trivia

He became known as "the Nazi who said sorry" for taking moral responsibility for the crimes of The Third Reich at the Nuremberg Trials.

Family Life

He was the middle child in a family of three sons born to the wealthy Albert and Luis Speer. By some accounts, his home was not known for being loving and warm. He married Margarete Weber in 1927.

Associated With

He chronicled his close relationship with Adolf Hitler in his autobiographies, "Inside the Third Reich" and "Spandau: The Secret Diaries," which he wrote after he was released from prison in 1966.