APPENDIX
Principal Characters
Below, Lt-Col Nicholas (Klaus) von Hitler’s adjutant 1937-45, and the man in Hitler’s HQ closest to Speer. He and his wife Maria remained Speer’s friends after Nuremberg. His memoirs were published in 1980.
Braun, Eva Hitler’s mistress from 1932 and, in the last days of their lives, his wife. A Bavarian girl of limited education, she was assistant to a photographer when Hitler met her. Hitler’s chauffeur said ‘She was the unhappiest woman in Germany. She spent most of her life waiting for Hitler’. Never allowed to appear in public with him, she was confined to his private life.
Casalis, Georges A former member of the French Resistance, he was chosen for the post of Spandau prison chaplain because he was Protestant, spoke German, and was a man of impeccable morality and exceptional humanity. He stayed at Spandau for the first three years. After doing his PhD and working for several years in Nicaragua, he became curator of the Calvin Museum in Noyon. He died in 1987.
Ganzenmüller, Theodor Young railway official, a protégé of Speer’s, and suggested by him to Hitler in 1942 for position as head of the railways. He and Speer worked closely on rail transport for armaments to the front. He was implicated in arrangements to transport Jews to Treblinka and though brought to court, declared unfit to plead on health grounds.
Hanke, Karl Secretary in Goebbels’ ministry and Speer’s patron. He offered Speer the job of redecorating his Grünewald villa. Hanke was Magda Goebbels’ lover, for whom she wanted to leave her husband. Goebbels threatened to take the children away and Hitler forbade him. Speer mediated. Hanke resigned and entered the army, leaving in 1941 to become Gauleiter of Lower Silesia.
Hess, Rudolf Deputy leader of the Nazi Party, he burned with religious fervour for his leader. Hitler: ‘With Hess every conversation becomes an unbearably tormenting strain. He always comes to me with unpleasant matters and won’t leave off’. He flew to Britain in May 1941 to persuade George VI to dismiss Churchill, make peace with Hitler and align with Germany against Russia. He was taken prisoner and remained in custody until the Nuremberg Trials. Sentenced to life, he lived to become Spandau’s last prisoner, and was found hanged there at the age of 93.
Himmler, Heinrich Reich Leader of the SS from 1929, head of all police from 1936, and in direct charge of the extermination programme. ‘Whether [Eastern] nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only insofar as we need them as slaves for our culture. Whether ten thousand Russian females drop from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch or not interests me only insofar as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is completed’. Arrested in May 1945, he took cyanide before he could be interrogated.
Kempf, Annemarie (formerly Wittenberg) A passionate young Nazi, she was recruited by Speer from Goebbels’ ‘Gauleitung’ at 17. Her husband Hans went missing in action in Russia, 1944. After Speer was sentenced she worked on a farm; later accepted a job in Bonn in order to campaign for his early release; spent the rest of her life caring for disturbed children, and remained Speer’s friend till his death.
Schaub, Julius Rose from Sergeant to SS General by 1945 without substantially changing his role as Hitler’s Personal Aide. Sent to the Berghof in April 1945 to burn Hitler’s private papers.
Tessenow, Heinrich Philosopher architect under whom Speer studied. Speer: ‘I admired – no, I worshipped him, but it never became a personal relationship in any way’. The only architect who refused to participate in the redesign of Berlin, he lost his chair at the Technische Hochschule, though due to Speer’s intervention kept a second chair at the Academy of Arts.
Todt, Fritz Head of construction for the Third Reich’s Four Year Plan. He joined the Nazi party in 1922 and rose to be an SS colonel. Appointed inspector general of the German road system in 1933. He served as Reich Minister for Munitions, 1940-42. As creator of the Autobahn system, he was ‘one of Germany’s most influential men’ and the world’s principal user of concrete. He died in a mysterious accident in February 1942 and was succeeded as Minister for Armaments by Albert Speer.
Wolters, Rudolf Speer’s associate and helper throughout his life. Like Speer, his father was an architect; they met as students in Munich. Speer recruited him as part of the team redesigning Berlin; he went with Speer to the Ministry of Armaments; during Speer’s imprisonment he remained his lifeline, taking charge of the family finances and processing the 25,000 letters he wrote from Spandau.
Apart from Speer and Hess, the other prisoners in Spandau were:
Dönitz, Karl Commander of the German navy from 1943 and nominated by Hitler to succeed him. After Hitler’s death, he became Head of State for seven days in May 1945. Sentenced at Nuremberg to 10 years’ imprisonment, he was released in 1956.
Funk, Walther The Third Reich’s minister of economics from 1937 to 1945. Appointed President of the Reichsbank in 1939. Arrested and tried as one of the 22 major war criminals at Nuremberg, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but released from Spandau on health grounds in 1957.
Neurath, Konstantin Freiherr von Made Foreign Minister in von Papen’s 1932 Cabinet and stayed on in Cabinet when Hitler became Chancellor. He was removed from the Ministry after protesting at Hitler’s plans for conquest. Sentenced to 15 years at Nuremberg but released in 1954 on health grounds.
Raeder, Admiral Erich Commander of the German navy from 1935 to 1943. When war came, his failure to stop the Allied convoys crossing the Atlantic infuriated Hitler, who forced his resignation and replaced him with Dönitz. Captured in Berlin in 1945, he was found guilty at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment. He appealed in vain for a death sentence, and was released in 1955.
Schirach, Baldur von Head of Hitler Youth from 1933 to 1940, and Gauleiter of Vienna from 1940 to 1945, Schirach escaped capture at the end of the war and hid in the Austrian Tyrol, posing as a novelist. He was arrested and charged mainly for his administration of foreign workers and his treatment of Jews in Vienna. He was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment.