Editing Albert Speer (section)

===Imprisonment===
On 18 July 1947, Speer was transferred to [[Spandau Prison]] in Berlin to serve his prison term.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|p=288}} There he was known as Prisoner Number Five.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=314–315}} Speer's parents died while he was incarcerated. His father, who died in 1947, despised the Nazis and was silent upon meeting Hitler. His mother died in 1952. As a Nazi Party member, she had greatly enjoyed dining with Hitler.{{sfn|Taylor|2010|p=124}} Wolters and longtime Speer secretary Annemarie Kempf, while not permitted direct communication with Speer in Spandau, did what they could to help his family and carry out the requests Speer put in letters to his wife—the only written communication he was officially allowed. Beginning in 1948, Speer had the services of Toni Proost, a sympathetic Dutch orderly, to smuggle mail and his writings.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|pp=292–297}}
[[File:6th Inf Regt Spandau Prison 1951.jpg|thumb|left|Speer spent most of his sentence at [[Spandau Prison]].]]

In 1949, Wolters opened a bank account for Speer and began fundraising among those architects and industrialists who had benefited from Speer's activities during the war. Initially, the funds were used only to support Speer's family, particularly for the children's education. However, increasingly the money was used for other purposes, such as for payments to messengers including Proost and for bribes to those who might be able to secure Speer's release. Once Speer became aware of the existence of the fund, he sent detailed instructions about what to do with the money.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|pp=292–297}}

The prisoners were forbidden to write memoirs. Speer was able to have his writings sent to Wolters, however, and they eventually amounted to 20,000 pages.{{sfn|Fest|1999|p=316}} He had completed his memoirs by November 1953, and they became the basis of ''Inside the Third Reich''.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=325}} In ''Spandau Diaries'', Speer aimed to present himself as a tragic hero who had made a [[Faustian bargain]] for which he endured a harsh prison sentence.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=321–322}}

Much of Speer's energy was dedicated to keeping fit, both physically and mentally, during his long confinement.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=323}} Spandau had a large enclosed yard where inmates were allocated plots of land for gardening. Speer created an elaborate garden complete with lawns, flower beds, shrubbery, and fruit trees.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=316}} To make his daily walks around the garden more engaging, Speer embarked on an imaginary trip around the globe. Speer started his “walk” from Berlin and went eastward across the entirety of Eurasia, crossed the Bering Strait into Alaska and then traveled south down the west coast of North America. Carefully measuring distance travelled each day, he mapped distances to real-world geography. He had walked more than {{convert|30,000|km}}, ending his sentence near [[Guadalajara]], Mexico.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=316, 325}} Speer also read, studied architectural journals, and brushed up on English and French. In his writings, Speer claimed to have finished five thousand books while in prison. His sentence of twenty years amounted to 7,305 days, which only allotted one and a half days per book.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=316–317}}

Speer's supporters maintained calls for his release. Among those who pledged support for his sentence to be commuted were [[Charles de Gaulle]] and US diplomat [[George Wildman Ball]].{{sfn|Fest|1999|p=319}} [[Willy Brandt]] was an advocate of his release,{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|p=319}} putting an end to the de-Nazification proceedings against him,{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|p=324}} which could have caused his property to be confiscated.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|pp=299–300}} Speer's efforts for an early release came to naught. The Soviet Union, having demanded a death sentence at trial, was unwilling to entertain a reduced sentence.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=320–321}} Speer served a full term and was released at midnight on 1 October 1966.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|pp=324–325}}