Albert Speer

Albert Speer was an influential German architect who served as Nazi Germany's Minister of Armaments and War Production from 1942 to 1945. Known as "Hitler's architect," Speer initially designed monumental Nazi structures, including the Reich Chancellery and plans for "Germania." As Armaments Minister, he dramatically increased war production through rationalization and the widespread exploitation of millions of forced laborers and concentration camp inmates. At the Nuremberg Trials, Speer was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After his release, he popularized a self-serving memoir depicting himself as an apolitical technocrat.

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