The Myth of Albert Speer

Author: Michael Kloft

Length: 52'

This kindly old gentleman liked to appear repentant in interviews. The memoirs of Adolf Hitler's chief architect and minister for armaments and war production was a bestseller worldwide. Albert Speer is considered the "good Nazi" by many. He was the only Nazi in a leading position to accept responsibility for the crimes of the Third Reich and was convicted to a twenty-year prison sentence at the Nuremberg Trials. Whether Speer actually felt a true moral sense of guilt or only acted as if he did in order to cover his own complicity, however, is still a disputed issue. SPIEGEL TV producer Michael Kloft managed to convince the son of Hitler's architect to appear in his report "The myth of Albert Speer". Albert Speer jr. has also become an architect and is one of the most important city planners in Germany today, participating considerably in the organization of the Expo 2000 in Hanover. It is the first time ever that he has spoken on television about his difficult relationship with his father, whose powerful shadow still looms over the son. Using partly unpublished film footage, photographs and documents, we have created an impressive portrait of one of the most interesting and controversial personalities in German history. "The myth of Albert Speer" is the first in a new series of films entitled "Faces of the Third Reich ".

year of production: 2000