How Did Albert Speer Influence Hitler

On March 19, 1905, Albert Speer was born in Mannheim, Germany. Influenced by his father, he studied to become an architect instead of a mathematician. Speer went to the university at Karlsruhe and then at Berlin. On August 1928, he married Margarethe Weber-despite family disapproval-and came to have six children. Speer, enraptured by the Nationalist Socialist Party and by Hitler’s charisma, he became a member. Speer became the main architect of the Nazi Party and later became the Minister of Arms and Munitions. His control of German munitions factories led to a threefold increase of arms during Allied air raids. The defeat of the Axis powers led to the Nuremberg trials, where Speer was notably known for his apologies for his actions. At the trials, Speer’s sentence was 20 years in prison to Germany's Spandau Prison.

The charisma of Hitler and the Nazi Party’s message convinced him to join on January 1931. By member connections and having similar interests in architecture, he became part of Hitler’s inner circle. In 1934, Hitler appointed Speer as Inspector General of the Reich, after the death of the chief architect. Speer then designed the Nuremberg parade grounds and the Reich Chancellery-the office of the German government. The building of the Reich Chancellery was extraordinary as it was designed and built within a year. Speer also designed the German Pavilion. It was for the 1937 Paris International Exposition; an exhibit of the arts and technology. The building indicated disapproval of the Soviet Pavilion. Speer’s overarching challenge was to rebuild Berlin in order for it to become the new capital. Most of his grandiose designs for Berlin, however, were not able to be built due to World War