Albert Speer

Albert Speer (March 19, 1905 - September 1, 1981), sometimes called 'the first architect of the Third Reich', was Hitler's chief architect in Nazi Germany. Perhaps the most familiar of his designs are the Nuremberg parade grounds seen in Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda masterpiece, Triumph of the Will. Speer was also directed to make plans to rebuild post-war Berlin, which was to become the capital of a supra-German state -- Germania.

Hitler supposedly had a weakness for the young and handsome Speer, whose designs were considered expressions of National Socialist principles. Hitler made him Minister responsible for Armaments and War Production in 1942. After the Wannsee conference, Speer was ordered to work out the logistics of the "final solution of the Jewish question," making him a key figure in the perpetration of the Holocaust.

Speer confessed guilty in the Nuremberg trials after World War II and was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in Spandau Prison, East Berlin. His release from prison in 1966 was a world-wide media event. He published several semi-autobiographic books until his death in London on September 1, 1981 - exactly 42 years after World War II began. His books such as Inside the Third Reich provided a unique and personal look into the personalities of the Nazi era. However, many critics believe that his books understate his role in the atrocities of the era.

His son also became a successful architect and was responsible for the design of Expo 2000 - the world exposition that took place in Hanover in the year 2000.