Editing Albert Speer (section)

==Minister of Armaments==
===Appointment and increasing power===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1968-036-22, Albert Speer in Lissabon.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Albert Speer at an exhibition in [[Lisbon]] in 1942 with the President of Portugal]]
As one of the younger and more ambitious men in Hitler's inner circle, Speer was approaching the height of his power. In 1938, Prussian [[Minister President]] [[Hermann Göring]] had appointed him to the [[Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany)|Prussian State Council]].{{sfn|Lilla|2005|pp=239, 298}} In 1941, he was elected to the ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'' from electoral constituency 2 (Berlin–West).{{sfn|Wistrich|1982|p=291}} On 8 February 1942, [[Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production|Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions]] [[Fritz Todt]] died in a plane crash shortly after taking off from Hitler's [[Wolf's Lair|eastern headquarters]] at [[Kętrzyn|Rastenburg]]. Speer arrived there the previous evening and accepted Todt's offer to fly with him to Berlin. Speer cancelled some hours before take-off because the previous night he had been up late in a meeting with Hitler.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=117–118}} Hitler appointed Speer in Todt's place. [[Martin Kitchen]], a British historian, says that the choice was not surprising. Speer was loyal to Hitler, and his experience building prisoner of war camps and other structures for the military qualified him for the job.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=120–121}} Speer succeeded Todt not only as Reich Minister but in all his other powerful positions, including Inspector General of German Roadways, Inspector General for Water and Energy and Head of the Nazi Party's Office of Technology.{{sfn|Wistrich|1982|p=291}} At the same time, Hitler also appointed Speer as head of the [[Organisation Todt]], a massive, government-controlled construction company.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=6}} Characteristically Hitler did not give Speer any clear remit; he was left to fight his contemporaries in the regime for power and control. As an example, he wanted to be given power over all armaments issues under Göring's [[Four Year Plan]]. Göring was reluctant to grant this. However, Speer secured Hitler's support, and on 1 March 1942, Göring signed a decree naming Speer "General Plenipotentiary for Armament Tasks" in the Four Year Plan.{{sfn|Carroll|2018|p=234}} Speer proved to be ambitious, unrelenting and ruthless.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=122}} Speer set out to gain control not just of armaments production in the army, but in the whole armed forces.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=122}} It did not immediately dawn on his political rivals that his calls for rationalization and reorganization were hiding his desire to sideline them and take control.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=148–149}} By April 1942, Speer had persuaded Göring to create a three-member [[Central Planning Board]] within the Four Year Plan, which he used to obtain supreme authority over procurement and allocation of raw materials and scheduling of production in order to consolidate German war production in a single agency.{{sfn|U.S. Government|1950|p=374}} 

Speer was fêted at the time, and in the post-war era, for performing an "armaments miracle" in which German war production dramatically increased. This miracle was brought to a halt in the summer of 1943 by, among other factors, the [[Battle of the Ruhr|first]] sustained [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Strategic bombing during World War II|bombing]].{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=597–598}} Other factors probably contributed to the increase more than Speer himself. Germany's armaments production had already begun to result in increases under his predecessor, Todt. Naval armaments were not under Speer's supervision until October 1943, nor the Luftwaffe's armaments until June of the following year. Yet each showed comparable increases in production despite not being under Speer's control.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=368–370}} Another factor that produced the boom in ammunition was the policy of allocating more coal to the steel industry.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=575–576}} Production of every type of weapon peaked in June and July 1944, but there was now a severe shortage of fuel. After August 1944, oil from the Romanian fields was no longer available. Oil production became so low that any possibility of offensive action became impossible and weaponry lay idle.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=232–233}}

As Minister of Armaments, Speer was responsible for supplying weapons to the army.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=127}} With Hitler's full agreement, he decided to prioritize tank production, and he was given unrivaled power to ensure success.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=145–147}} Hitler was closely involved with the design of the tanks, but kept changing his mind about the specifications. This delayed the program, and Speer was unable to remedy the situation. In consequence, despite tank production having the highest priority, relatively little of the armaments budget was spent on it. This led to a significant German Army failure at the [[Battle of Prokhorovka]], a major turning point on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] against the Soviet [[Red Army]].{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=147–148}}[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J16636, Nordeuropa, Eduard Dietl, Albert Speer.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Speer (wearing [[Organisation Todt]] armband) and ''Heer'' general [[Eduard Dietl]] at [[Rovaniemi Airport]] in Finland, December 1943]]

As head of Organisation Todt, Speer was directly involved in the construction and alteration of concentration camps. He agreed to expand [[Auschwitz]] and some other camps, allocating 13.7 million Reichsmarks for the work to be carried out. This allowed an extra 300 huts to be built at Auschwitz, increasing the total human capacity to 132,000. Included in the building works was material to build [[Nazi gas chamber|gas chambers]], crematoria and morgues. The SS called this "Professor Speer's Special Programme".{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=156}}

Speer realized that with six million workers drafted into the armed forces, there was a labor shortage in the war economy, and not enough workers for his factories. In response, Hitler appointed [[Fritz Sauckel]] as a "manpower dictator" to obtain new workers.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=150}} Speer and Sauckel cooperated closely to meet Speer's labor demands.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=151–152}} Hitler gave Sauckel a free hand to obtain labor, something that delighted Speer, who had requested 1,000,000 "voluntary" laborers to meet the need for armament workers. Sauckel had whole villages in France, Holland and Belgium forcibly rounded up and shipped to Speer's factories.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=159}} Sauckel obtained new workers often using the most brutal methods.{{sfn|Fest|1999|pp=146–150}} In occupied areas of the Soviet Union, that had been subject to partisan action, civilian men and women were rounded up en masse and sent to work forcibly in Germany.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=165–166}} By April 1943, Sauckel had supplied 1,568,801 "voluntary" laborers, forced laborers, prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners to Speer for use in his armaments factories. It was for the maltreatment of these people that Speer was principally convicted at the Nuremberg trials.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=160}}

===Consolidation of arms production===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H28426, A. Speer, E. Milch, W. Messerschmitt.jpg|thumb|Speer with Luftwaffe field marshal [[Erhard Milch]] and aircraft designer [[Willy Messerschmitt]], May 1944]]
Following his appointment as Minister of Armaments, Speer was in control of armaments production solely for the Army. He coveted control of the production of armaments for the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' and ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' as well. He set about extending his power and influence with unexpected ambition.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=7–8}} His close relationship with Hitler provided him with political protection, and he was able to outwit and outmaneuver his rivals in the regime. Hitler's cabinet was dismayed at his tactics, but, regardless, he was able to accumulate new responsibilities and more power.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=7–8}} By July 1943, he had gained control of armaments production for the ''Luftwaffe'' and ''Kriegsmarine''.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=167–169}} In August 1943, he took control of most of the Ministry of Economics, to become, in [[Admiral Dönitz]]'s words, "Europe's economic dictator". His formal title was changed on 2 September 1943, to "Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production". He had become one of the most powerful people in Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=7–8}}

Speer and his hand-picked director of submarine construction {{interlanguage link|Otto Merker|de|Otto Merker (Generaldirektor)}} believed that the shipbuilding industry was being held back by outdated methods, and revolutionary new approaches imposed by outsiders would dramatically improve output.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|p=614}} This belief proved incorrect, and Speer and Merker's attempt to build the ''Kriegsmarine''{{'}}s new generation of submarines, the [[Type XXI submarine|Type XXI]] and [[Type XXIII submarine|Type XXIII]], as [[Prefabrication|prefabricated]] sections at different facilities rather than at single dockyards contributed to the failure of this strategically important program. The designs were rushed into production, but the completed submarines were crippled by construction flaws. While dozens of submarines were built, few ever entered service.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=616–618}}

In December 1943, Speer visited Organisation Todt workers in [[Lapland (Finland)|Lapland]], where he seriously damaged his knee and was incapacitated for several months.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=8–9}} He was under the dubious care of Professor [[Karl Gebhardt]] at a medical clinic called Hohenlychen where patients "mysteriously failed to survive".{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=188}} In mid-January 1944, Speer had a lung embolism and fell seriously ill. Concerned about retaining power, he did not appoint a deputy and continued to direct work of the Armaments Ministry from his bedside. Speer's illness coincided with the Allied "[[Big Week]]", a series of bombing raids on the German aircraft factories that were a devastating blow to aircraft production.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=188–189}} His political rivals used the opportunity to undermine his authority and damage his reputation with Hitler. He lost Hitler's unconditional support and began to lose power.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=8–9}}
[[File:Hitler_at_the_Adlerhorst,_January_1945_with_(l-r)_Albert_Speer,_Colonel-General_Alfred_Jodl,_Field_Marshal_Wilhelm_Keitel_and_Joachim_von_Ribbentrop.jpg|thumb| Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl and Minister of Armaments Albert Speer brought New Year's greetings "to the Führer" on January 1, 1945.]]

In response to the Allied Big Week, Adolf Hitler authorized the creation of a [[Jägerstab|Fighter Staff committee]]. Its aim was to ensure the preservation and growth of fighter aircraft production. The task force was established by 1 March 1944, orders of Speer, with support from [[Erhard Milch]] of the Reich Aviation Ministry.{{sfn|Boog|Krebs|Vogel|2006|p=347}} Production of German fighter aircraft more than doubled between 1943 and 1944.{{sfn|Overy|2002|p=343}} The growth, however, consisted in large part of models that were becoming obsolescent and proved easy prey for Allied aircraft.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=582–584}} On 1 August 1944, Speer merged the Fighter Staff into a newly formed [[Rüstungsstab|Armament Staff committee]].{{sfn|Uziel|2012|p=82}}

The Fighter Staff committee was instrumental in bringing about the increased exploitation of [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labor]] in the war economy.{{sfn|Buggeln|p=45|2014}} The SS provided 64,000 prisoners for 20 separate projects from various concentration camps including [[Mittelbau-Dora]]. Prisoners worked for [[Junkers]], [[Messerschmitt]], [[Henschel & Son|Henschel]] and [[BMW#1939–1945: World War II|BMW]], among others.{{sfn|Buggeln|pp=46–48|2014}} To increase production, Speer introduced a system of punishments for his workforce. Those who feigned illness, slacked off, sabotaged production or tried to escape were denied food or sent to concentration camps. In 1944, this became endemic; over half a million workers were arrested.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=215}} By this time, 140,000 people were working in Speer's underground factories. These factories were death-traps; discipline was brutal, with regular executions. There were so many corpses at the Dora underground factory, for example, that the crematorium was overwhelmed. Speer's own staff described the conditions there as "hell".{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=221}}

The largest technological advance under Speer's command came through the rocket program. It began in 1932 but had not supplied any weaponry. Speer enthusiastically supported the program and in March 1942 made an order for A4 rockets, the predecessor of the world's first ballistic missile, the [[V-2 rocket]]. The rockets were researched at a facility in [[Peenemünde]] along with the [[V-1 flying bomb]]. The V-2's first target was Paris on 8 September 1944. The program, while advanced, proved to be an impediment to the war economy. The large capital investment was not repaid in military effectiveness.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=216}} The rockets were built at an underground factory at [[Mittelwerk]]. Labor to build the A4 rockets came from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Of the 60,000 people who ended up at the camp, 20,000 died due to the appalling conditions.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=221}}

On 14 April 1944, Speer lost control of Organisation Todt to his deputy, [[Franz Xaver Dorsch]].{{sfn| Speer| 1970| pp=432–433}} He opposed the [[20 July plot|assassination attempt against Hitler]] on 20 July 1944. He was not involved in the plot, and played a minor role in the regime's efforts to regain control over Berlin after Hitler survived.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=204–205}} After the plot Speer's rivals attacked some of his closest allies and his management system fell out of favor with radicals in the party. He lost yet more authority.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=8}}

===Defeat of Nazi Germany===
[[File:Nazi Personalities BU6713.jpg|thumb|Speer (left), [[Karl Dönitz]] and [[Alfred Jodl]] (right) after their arrest by the British Army in [[Flensburg]] in Northern Germany in May 1945]]
Losses of territory and a dramatic expansion of the Allied strategic bombing campaign caused the collapse of the German economy from late 1944. Air attacks on the transport network were particularly effective, as they cut the main centres of production off from essential coal supplies.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=648–651}} In January 1945, Speer told Goebbels that armaments production could be sustained for at least a year.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|p=652}} However, he concluded that the war was lost after Soviet forces captured the important [[Silesia]]n industrial region later that month.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=259}} Nevertheless, Speer believed that Germany should continue the war for as long as possible with the goal of winning better conditions from the Allies than the [[unconditional surrender]] they insisted upon.{{sfn|Kershaw|2012|p=289}} During January and February, Speer claimed that his ministry would deliver "decisive weapons" and a large increase in armaments production which would "bring about a dramatic change on the battlefield".{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=254}} Speer gained control over the railways in February, and asked [[Heinrich Himmler]] to supply concentration camp prisoners to work on their repair.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=261–262}}

[[File:Überlebende KZ Mühldorf.jpg|thumb|upright|Survivors of the [[Mühldorf concentration camp complex|Mühldorf concentration camp]] upon liberation in 1945. Mühldorf supplied slave workers for the [[Weingut I]] project.]]

By mid-March, Speer had accepted that Germany's economy would collapse within the next eight weeks. While he sought to frustrate directives to destroy industrial facilities in areas at risk of capture, so that they could be used after the war, he still supported the war's continuation. Speer provided Hitler with a memorandum on 15 March, which detailed Germany's dire economic situation and sought approval to cease demolitions of infrastructure. Three days later, he also proposed to Hitler that Germany's remaining military resources be concentrated along the [[Rhine]] and [[Vistula]] rivers in an attempt to prolong the fighting. This ignored military realities, as the German armed forces were unable to match the Allies' firepower and were facing total defeat.{{sfn|Tooze|2006|pp=652–653}}{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=262–263}} Hitler rejected Speer's proposal to cease demolitions. Instead, he issued the "[[Nero Decree]]" on 19 March, which called for the destruction of all infrastructure as the army retreated. Speer was appalled by this order, and persuaded several key military and political leaders to ignore it.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=265–267}} During a meeting with Speer on 28/29 March, Hitler rescinded the decree and gave him authority over demolitions.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|pp=269–270}} Speer ended them, though the army continued to blow up bridges.{{sfn|Kershaw|2012|p=291}}{{efn|For a treatise on this aspect of the war including Speer's involvement see: Randall, Hansen, ''Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance in the Last Year of WWII'', Faber & Faber, 2014, 1st edition, {{ISBN|978-0-571-28451-1}}.}}

By April, little was left of the armaments industry, and Speer had few official duties.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=275}} Speer visited the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' on 22 April for the last time. He met Hitler and toured the damaged Chancellery before leaving Berlin to return to Hamburg.{{sfn|Fest|1999|pp=263–270}} Speer would later claim in his memoirs that during this visit he "confessed to Hitler [...] that he was disobeying his 'scorched-earth' policy",{{sfn|Evans|1997|p=202}} an assertion which has been described as "pure invention"{{sfn|Evans|1997|p=202}} by historian [[Richard J. Evans]]. On 29 April, the day before committing suicide, Hitler dictated a [[Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler|final political testament]] which dropped Speer from the successor government. Speer was to be replaced by his subordinate, [[Karl Saur|Karl-Otto Saur]].{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|p=234}} Speer was disappointed that Hitler had not selected him as his successor.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=277}} After Hitler's death, Speer offered his services to Hitler's successor, [[Karl Dönitz]].{{sfn|Fest|1999|pp=273–281}} On 2 May, Dönitz asked [[Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk]] to form a new government, and discussions went on about the formation of the administration for the next few days. On May 5, Schwerin von Krosigk presented his cabinet (known as the [[Flensburg government]]) and Speer was named as Minister of Industry and Production.{{sfn|Jaskot|2002|pp=140–141}} Speer provided information to the Allies, regarding the effects of the air war, and on a broad range of subjects, beginning on 10 May. On 23 May, two weeks after the surrender of German forces, British troops arrested the members of the Flensburg Government and brought Nazi Germany to a formal end.{{sfn|Kitchen|2015|p=288}}