Tuesdays

2:00 – 4:00 pm

Online

3/22, 3/29, 4/5, 4/12, 4/19 & 4/26

Six Sessions 

This course is offered online via the easy-to-use Zoom program

“If Hitler had had any friends, I would certainly have been one of his close friends.” Those startling words were uttered by Albert Speer before the International War Crimes Tribunal. Intelligent, handsome, and educated as an architect, Speer had no interest in politics until he attended a Hitler rally when he was 25. After joining the Nazi Party, his skills brought him into the Führer’s inner circle, where he fulfilled Hitler’s megalomaniac dreams by designing some of the most colossal structures ever conceived. With war he became Armaments Minister, and after Germany’s surrender was arrested and tried at Nuremberg. The only Nazi who seemed penitent, he accepted responsibility for all the crimes of the regime. Some applaud his stance and call him “the good Nazi.” Others contend it was a clever ploy to avoid the noose. In this course, we will consider Speer’s life, his relationship with Hitler, his second career as a best-selling author after serving 20 years in Spandau, and the inner conflict that drove him to both confess and conceal his own guilt. Over the six weeks we will also view the four-hour 1982 film, Inside the Third Reich, based on his memoirs.

Recommended Reading:

Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer. [Simon & Schuster, 1997 Reissue]

Spandau: The Secret Diaries, Albert Speer.  [MacMillan, 1976]

Richard Matturro, a native of Rye, New York, holds a doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology. After sixteen years at the Albany Times Union, he taught literature at UAlbany for fourteen years. He is the author of numerous newspaper articles and seven novels.

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