Albert Speer 1905-1981
Family:
• Born 19 March 1905, Mannheim, Germany
• Born to an upper middle class family
• Father was a very well known Architect
• Servants, Nannies, Butlers
• Had a French – Jewish nanny who was very close to him
• Ego maniac, cold individual, weak personality
• Loveless childhood, mother and father did not like him much nor each other. Neither did his either of his brothers, one older, one younger.
• Family was untouched by WWI, inflation and the depression
• His family’s wealth protected him throughout his life
• Speer’s wealth and social position gave him a sense of social superiority, which he used to manipulate those around him when he was an adult.
Education:
• Distinguished himself in his studies
• Wanted to become a mathematician, but his father insisted he study architecture
• 1923- began his architectural studies at the Technical University at Karlsruhe near Heidelberg.
• 1924- transferred to the more prestigious Technical University in Munich
• 1927- completed his degree in Berlin where he graduated
• He was a competent but conventional architect not creative or imaginative.
Marriage:
• 1928- Eloped with Margaret Weber
• 6 children, he was an absent father
• Not such a happy marriage but stayed together until his death
• Parents of Speer did not feel Margaret fitted in with family as she was an unprivileged money
• Bright yet uneducated woman, deferred to him
• Not much emotion in the marriage, stood by him through everything
Early Career:
• First job was an assistant to the Professor of Architecture at the Technische Hochschule (University) in Berlin.
• Failed to set up a private practice of Architecture despite commissions by his father, it was not that he had a lack of skills for the failure but it the economy
• Very ambitious, looked for career opportunities; this made him vulnerable to the Nazis
Joining the Nazis:
• On March 1 1931, Speer became the 474,481st member of the Nazi Party...