Yea true Ig I was also wondering what was up with his voice, as he was a navy admiral general so I thought his voice would've been extremely stern and manly.
controversial is the islamic cleric or the fire and brim preacher ,these people here werent just controversial figures my friend,these were some of the last survivors of what many people regard as evil personified on this earth,they were allowed to finish because everytime they spoke more was learned of there thinking,actions and ultimatley crimes. for comparrison when the Israelis captured eichman they interview him for 9 months, 3500 pages of transcripts and still didnt get everything out of him. every little snippet was sought becuase people want to understand what made them do it
Actually, interrupting someone and pressing him with the absurdity of their lies can sometimes be the only way to stop someone from spreading propaganda. I'm not saying it's ideal, I'm not saying it's pleasant, but sometimes it's the only way left to go. Take a guy like Vladimir Putin, if you just listen to him and don't question what he says, he appears to be a very well intended individual whose right about pretty much everything. However, a significant number of his actions are completely opposed to what he preaches. Unfortunately, the guy is a fascist and doesn't mind killing journalists, so you very rarely have admitting to the terrible actions he committed and still commits. So, while I hate how people always talk over each other nowadays, I also have to say that I hate being served bullshit. The thing is, a guy like Putin, as cruel as he is, is not an idiot. The man has horrible values, but he's bright and that's a problem.
@@mvd4436 Not just him, many other Nazi officials. Wernher von Braun, an SS officer who frequently used Jewish slave labor, also weasled himself out of punishment by changing his allegiance. Many Jews never saw justice and their oppressors were let go.
He was the only high ranked Nazi that acknowledged the Holocaust and the Nazi scheme and showed regret. He was a valuable witness against people with more influence and responsibility. Speer was an architect (for buildings) and also in charge of logistical concerns late war, if I'm not mistaken. He wasn't a big fish in the scheme of the responsibility. Or, at least, as big a fish as the people he would be testifying against.
Yea he played the game very well, if I didn't know enything about him I would of said he was a gentleman, very level headed I have to say but a complete hypocrite
What surprises me is not Speer, Speer is as calculated as you'd expect. Dönitz surprised me. Because he answered in the way an admiral would - utilitarian and almost distanced, but with a sort of surpressed regret. Fascinating to watch.
listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
Didnt hear a single bit of regret from Doenitz. He evaded all questions and came up with dumb excuses during the whole interview. Afterall a nazi with no regrets whatsoever
@@mace11880 that’s the impression I got as well. Still blinded by the ideology even into his old age, which is surprising because Hitler turned down his offer numerous times for more U Boats early in the war
Regardless of what we think about these men, and what they did or didn't know, you can't deny that it's absolutely fascinating to watch these interviews, and some remarkable journalism.
Since you find it fascinating and engaging may i humbly suggest you read Speer's Spandau The Secret Diaries and his 2nd book Inside The Third Reich. I promise you you will be utterly engaged and unable to put them down until you finish them. I just read Spandau again . Its 450 pages did not bore me for one minute . Speer has a very fluid engaging way of writing combined with some dry wit .
There's a funny story in Doenitz's memoirs about when he first got appointed as Hitler's successor. Himmler came to see him with some SS guys and Doenitz said he hid a pistol on his desk under some papers because he wasn't sure what was going to happen.
Joshua Dausch ---- I recall reading somewhere that about that time, German civil and military groups were vying with each other for prominence and there were quite a number of secret bump-offs.
Speer says in his memoir that there were attempts by Himmler to bump him off and hints that some other senior figures in the hierarchy such as Todt were assassinated via such methods as mysterious plane crashes (he said that the planes had self destruct device that was likely activated) or in his case giving him the wrong medical treatment
Funny, or chilling? Such pervasive fear may have been why so many top leaders who may have otherwise spoke out against the extermination camps, instead kept quiet.
@@sdsd2e2321 Sorry, better now: ... and both, Hess and Speer, were Hitler's homosexual secret lovers, who did guide his politics from the background. ... but this is my theory... Hoever, fact is, that an uneducated lazy man who does not understand anything can make plans for the development of a big modern country. Hitler was pampered by many: Getting army training as propagandist, anti-semitist, anti-bolshevist etc., getting lifestyle advise from USA-adviser, Hanfstengl, getting speaker training, propaganda photographers, filmmakers, a huge government staff,
Admirals Raeder and Donitz did not receive death sentences because Admiral Chester Nimitz USN offered a letter acknowledging the Pacific Fleet was ordered to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan. So that as a war crime was off the table.
Not really, they convicted him for unrestricted submarine warfare. Why he spent 20 years in Spandau prison. The USN was never punished for its role in unrestricted submarine warfare, however.
Part 2 These trials are without example in modern history, except may be Stalins trials against his old communist friends and most generals. Poor justice but mostly a revenge against enemies. THAT'S WHY UP TO OUR DAYS THE US DON'T ACCEPT AN INTERNATIONAL COURT pursuing violations of international law. For not being misunderstood: I accept a lot of death penalties against Nazi leaders. But what, s about Hiroshima and Dresden, allied atrocities against civilians of enemy nations which anyway were short before total defeat and surrender?
@@theenglishalpinist5031 I agree too. I don't believe him innocent, but neither totally guilty. Like most wars and the people in it, its an ugly shade of gray.
When you separate art from artist (with some exceptions) you will enjoy things alot more, for example the M35 helmet design is AWESOME, but its past makes it politically unfeasible to be used most places. And even though I know the kind of horrors that they may have been used in I can't help but love my Japanese rifle collection.
At least here, Speer comes across as being the most truthful and thoughtful in his truthfulness. Those in positions of authority enjoy this quality because they are constantly lied to and in my life I have found this to be the way of getting out of trouble. Lying to people with a mountain of evidence in front of them will only harden their resolve against you.
Steve Chernoski , you mean 'inside the third Reich '?.... i feel Speer may well have 'cheated the hangman' but his knowledge & availability for interview made him an ideal person to explain 'the realities' of a totalitarian system & how 'logical decent educated people' could become part of an illogical murderous regime
listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
Good interviews! Speer has always interested me because of all the Nazis, he was the only one who really understood what was going to happen to any official left alive after Germany surrendered. At Nuremberg, he accepted partial responsibility as collective guilt-some say to avoid being prosecuted for his involvement in the use of slave labor, deftly throwing Fritz Sauckel under the bus by declaring he merely declared his manpower needs and assumed Sauckel would have seen to the welfare of these laborers as it was his responsibility. It was said you could hear Sauckel gasp as he realized Speer had just condemned him for the deaths of all the laborers involved. There was no way Speer could not have known about the condition and treatment of labor because it had to be factored into all of his production estimates. Sauckel was hanged, Speer did 20 years and although he represented himself as one that was being a martyr for the German people, he had no doubt hoped for a lighter sentence. He was lucky- the Soviets wanted him hung. An architect that wanted to design and build. If he had not come to the attention of Hitler we would have never heard of him. His downfall was, by his own admission, the thrill of the power chase. I think he came to enjoy the struggles with other high ranking Nazis over power and prestige. Doenitz strikes me as the typical Military Politician. And in Nazi Germany, you had to be well versed in political maneuvering to keep any sort of favor with Hitler and the High Command. He made use of whatever he could get, as his real mission was to prosecute naval warfare by any means at any time. He used the system and seems surprised when it turned on him. As for his anti-jewish sentiments, he could have simply said that is was the 'party line' and he thought nothing of it then and apologized for it. But having given his oath to Hitler he still has a hard time breaking it, even though he knows he is expected to denounce Hitler and all the 'bad' Nazis while attempting to rationalize his own actions and statements. He seems puzzled at his treatment and subsequent imprisonment. If he had been in the American or British Navy they would have named a new aircraft carrier after him. Or imagine the Doenitz class submarine! But any competent or even slightly successful officer would have been villainized and held responsible regardless of his conduct of the war in 1946. Not only was he convicted of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and as proof of his complicity, it was argued he had over 100 meetings with Hitler about the navy. Doenitz said, "How in heaven's name could a commander-in-chief of a service responsible directly to the Head of the State, have fulfilled his duties in any other way?" He wasn't the only one to advocate unrestricted submarine warfare.
Small but significant correction: Dönitz was charged with crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity but was convicted only of crimes against peace and war crimes.
Interesting points Claud, although its worth adding the perspective that Fritz Sauckel was member 1395 in the Nazi Party, having joined in 1923. He was there for the whole ride. That's not excusing Speer, of course, who joined them in 1931.
I think it's important to note that Speer was generally lauded by Hitler for his designs earlier on in the war as an achitect (before he worked with arms). Speer headed multi-million dollar projects, and Hitler effectively gave him a blank check to create new landmarks for a new world power, in his mind. As an achitect, this mustve been massively addictive for speers, being able to really have a free mind creatively in his designs- not limited in finance at all. How many people would willingly walk away from their dream job like that?
So true. I notice there are very few likes on this statement, but, by God, does the knowledge of Chinese slave labor used by Apple put a dent in iPhone sales in 2022? Speer just put that misery out of his mind, as many, many "enlightened" folks today would do if it meant advancing their careers -- and fattening their paychecks.
Honestly people tend to forget that the jewish slave labour wasnt too far from the life of the average steel or factory worker in europe, especially considering it was war time. He had much less restraint in that regard to use a workforce already available. Although horribly wrong, while his wrongness was blatant, it wasnt so far as we might think from the life of any other factory worker under war time
I've read Speer's memoir and a good way to look at him is like a Talleyrand - effectively a flexible opportunist who would thrive in any regime. No doubt he was a hard worker, but was also very sharp at understanding people around him (i.e. quick at sensing people's opinions and moods), very diplomatic (i.e. polite, deferential when necessary, didn't bully his staff), so that most people who met him really liked him and thought him a relatively pleasant guy. Doenitz strikes me as a soldier who refused to countenance any criticism of his government, and would likely have seen otherwise as being 'dishonourable' no matter the circumstances, something highly valued by Hitler. We know he was less of a political animal thanks to the memories of Erich Raeder, who was more astute in many ways but couldn't help criticising the regime when it was clearly going batshit crazy in many areas of operations during the war. Hence Raeder being pushed out and Doenitz being named as the Reich's successor president. It's good we can do this analysis when the powers that be let all information be opened up, and not held back to 'protect' us :)
Not if the Democrats have anything to say about it… They’ve managed to drum up such a fuss over even children’s books through institutional control of media, news outlets, and education, that six Dr. Seuss books were able to be canceled via public pressure on their publisher.
I don't think they are saying even the slightest truth. hitler had said about concentration camps. he explains it one of his speeches that ' concentration camps where by britsh to kill thousands of boer woman and children, yes we use it as well for different purpose. hitler's words
Speer was a very good Bullshit artist. That's what saved his life. He kept it up for the rest of his life. He would have gone far in politics in the United states.
Lol, Ikr? I could literally imagine the Speed Presidency, not some American Nazi State, but Speer as a typical President yet someone who knows rather well how to play the game.
i‘m not sure about speer....he sounds honest. and in stating his own guilt i think there‘s some true remorse. and as he‘s stated he indeed has got guilt just for being with them and doing this notorious speech. but honestly there are some real sadists like some of the ss-commandants of concentration camps or ss-officers doing hunts after families including the little ones to send them to the extermination camps who never got caught like alois brunner or others who are directly responsible and to an extensive part through their own hands for thousands of murders. alois brunner for instance has done an interview in syria in the eighties and showed absolutely no remorse. instead he said to the interviewer that he should be thankful to him that he cleansed some big cities in europe of the jews. many of the real huge monsters got never caught because they could flee. if you research for such people and recognise what they were able to do to the people face to face then sometimes i get sick and disgusted. speer is really one of the kindest and small fries regarding that issue. there were doctors in the camps like mengele or ari heim who, when inmates came to them to look for some spot on their skin, told them they would remove it, fixed them on a bed, but afterwards disemboweled them in reality while they were alive. one of them also murdered disabled or weak people, cut their head off and would hang them on some pole within the camp to warn the inmates off. they sent babies and little children to the gas chambers. lately i‘ve watched some really hard stuff with survivors as the interviewed with all their emotions and tears in their eyes and i had to stop recently for my own sake.
by the way, listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
I could see Doenitz as having the least knowledge of any of the inner circle about the camps. It's strangely comical that he was left holding the bag for it all.
Hhhhmmmm. Looks like those poor people are without food and medical supplies thanks to the indiscriminate and illegal bombing/strafing of German supply lines. And, just possibly, may have contracted typhus (the war disease.) I also love the hostile interrogation from the interviewer. Just don't ask about Dresden.
@@huntmatthewd two points about this: 1. Conditions had always been terrible in the camps and even worse in the extermination camps 2. Germany started the bombing of civilians, the allies reacted with bombardments of their own
Dönitz (in his favour) was only interested in being a soldier not a politician...you can see that when he talks...is like he is thinking 💭 "Let me go back to command line instead of this rubbish and boring 💤 😃 interview"... 😊
thilgu ... And to throw a perhaps wholly different log or twig or some in-between combustible on the fire, what are we to make of Michael Cohen? Different time different place different almost everything. Yet historic events maybe do in reality exist in some kind of 3-D space, with certain events and actors and actions closer together, more comparable, culpable, in one space or quadrant, and others, significantly farther apart. Also with very different degrees of intensity, both in terms of quantity and quality, of infliction of harm and suffering ... as well as to whom, by whom, and for what reason. History, human action, rationalization, all present the possibility of these many different judgements or discernments. And as well, of course, by force of mind, culture, or happenstance, the appearance sometimes of hardly any judgements, discernment, or consequences at all. If this seems hard - not always easy to make distinctions - I think it is. Hard to make judgments. Hard to conduct oneself in life, in competition, and most gravely in politics and war. Yet, must we not strive to understand, to properly navigate, to engineer, to lead our lives. Must we not continue to wrestle with, to struggle, with questions of responsibility and repentance? To continue somehow to try and safeguard life and truth and at least some evolving sense of human justice and decency when we can? There is not one easy answer, but like obscenity, perhaps if we open our hearts, we may find, in the varied circumstances of our lives, and at some deep level of instruction and conscience we find ourselves immersed in, what seems right, and what wrong. What actions we humans should or should not do, or even be a party to, and why? This drama continues as we work out our own new sets of challenging issues in this rivalrous, nuclear-tipped, slow-burn climate-change threatened, current pandemic-racked world.
@@dodibenabba1378 Well it's definitely not nonsense nor meaningless, but certainly not the easiest to read. Sometimes you need a lot of words to really put forth an idea properly, or otherwise with fewer words it would be too open to interpretation. And of course, this reads like discourse, taking the reader on a journey through his thought instead of plainly stating it.
All I can say is that these interviews once again proof that Speer is a very clever and intelligent man. And intellect can be a very dangerous thing when it is applied to the wrong side of humanitarian ethics.
The British prosecutors had planned to charge Karl Doenitz with regards to his contravening a 1936 international treaty relating to the use of U-boats during war. But these charges were not put forward on the request of the US prosecutors. It was later confirmed that the US had contravened the same protocols, and thought that Doenitz's defence may have raised this point and embarrass them..
Was looking for this comment Indeed, the US figured they were as guilty of unrestricted submarine warfare as the Germans and Japanese It's one of the few cases in which the allies 'looked at their own' This might have worked (on a certain level) for Goering's defense as well, when it came to indiscriminate bombings of non-strategic targets, if of course, he hadn't committed suicide
If Speer were a NAZI Rocketeer like Wehner vonBraun and the other Reich scientists the USA deemed valuable , Speer would have been living in Houston and been heroized for beating the USSR to the moon. However , it seems that Speer and Donetz were beneficiaries of the Allied mission to present the Nuremburg Kangaroo Show Time Court as unbiased and evenhanded; by granting mitigated leniency to SOME of the fallen German government's operatives.
Also,the USA partnered with fascist governments as a foil to the greater threat at that time, which was the very RED USSR. Hitler and General Franco , who won USA support during the Spanish Civil War , were tacit partners of the USA and Free Market Europe, in their quest to defend free market capitalism against the Communist Red Tide.
@@williamthompson7829 Actually, by no means. Normaly he has to dispenced with his life for all that crime.........das war ein Verbrecher durch und durch.
@@williamthompson7829 what did he accomplished ? Gave all he had to the monster ? Germans Krigs marines were known for shooting sailors in the boats , leaving the sinking ship.
listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
There is a wrong translation at 8:18 where Speer said "Lagebesprechung" which translates to something like "situation meeting". His words seem to be misheard as "Lager-Besprechungen" which would be translated as "camp discussions". It suggests there were discussions about camps, but he talks about something else. Edit: Ah! I see @nPianoRun already pointed it out.
@Olivia Dove Of course, no one ever mishears or mistranslates a member of the Master Race, except deliberately , to cover up the fact that they never committed a crime.
Thanks so much for sharing this! I've been to countless museums and seen hours of documentaries on TV for twenty years and yet never have I seen such long uninterrupted interviews with Speer and Dönitz. I found it very interesting to hear Speer's reflections on how ambition in your job can make you forget the bigger picture. He seemed to genuinely want people to learn from his mistake of being too absorbed in being a good employee. This was the same points that Hanna Arendt made about Adolf Eichmann and I think it shows us some fundamental psychological traits of human nature that we don't necessarily approve of, but is just there in our genetic code. Being aware of it and fighting it whenever it comes to the surface is what we should learn from these war criminals I think.
@takethisyousob ich habe dieses video schon gesehen,und jemand spricht darüber sie wollten nach dem krieg deutschland zerstören ,aber das haben sie nicht geschaft weil die deutschen großartige Leute sind. Lang lebe Deutschland
@@bougrineyuba3253 don't hold it against the European Americans of today. Plenty of us recognize the crimes of our government. We'll all make it right soon.
brilliant, such a massive contrast between both gentlemen. thank you as we should never forget the people behind the history no matter the horror of it.
My respect for Admiral Doenitz has only gone up after watching this. He seems to be an honorable and straightforward man. The Allies may have won the Naval war, but it came at a devastating price.
I can't agree tbh. Doenitz is evading all the questions asked by the interviewer. He knew about everything and is making up excuses during the whole interview. Nothing straightforward about that in my opinion.
@@mace11880 Yes true he may have had his compulsions just like anybody else serving their country for the right or wrong reasons. The British, French, Dutch committed a lot of atrocities during their colonial rule, some even worse than what the Nazis did. Nobody seems to have a problem with that. WW2 basically gave the Allies a taste of their own medicine.
@@saltycrotchwhiff3946 You never learned about the German Nazi's at school? It's not like Dønitz and Speers opinion or story is worthy to be teached at school either😂
@@mayaburak93 You should read the most recent biography on Speer. In the sixties he was allowed to re-write his nazi past and erase a lot of the dark manner in which he managed to reach the highest echolons of the nazi party....
When Speer speaks so easily and candidly after he had served his time, it is clear that the Nuremburg trial was a relief to him, allowing him to express his true feelings. He wasn't the only person "Inside the Third Reich."
@Dean Keepers Even if the source is sketchy i just did a quick search to prove how easy is to find allied war crimes, there are a lot more results and sources.
Speer was an opportunistic liar in my opinion, while Doenitz comes across as an honourable serviceman. He was in charge f the navy, what else is he going to do when ordered to attack? He’d have done the same Job regardless of who was in power. Under him U boats attempted to rescue survivors until the allies attacked them while they were doing so.
still the things that he did or didn’t do about the holocaust are horrible - however he said it in this video and I’ve heard it from one of my grandpa’s friends who was drawn into the marine he really didn’t judge jews and punished people who acted oddly towards people of jewish origin. Speer can burn in hell tho - tries to save himself in his older statements and push everything he did onto Hitler even tho he was one of the worst war criminals of all time
listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
I do not like the cut that they did at 3:30. Doenitz seems to start that part by saying that detaining people is not against the laws of war, and making detained people work is also not against the laws of war, and I feel like he is building up to says, but mass execution was a war crime, but then they cut it off there and transition to someone else.
@@warwolf715 Well assuming a precise story was told, a dealbreaker in an interview like that, why would they cut it out? It would just make an interview more interesting. I'd say it's unlikely
It's been said that luckily Albert Speer was spared on part that he was a good looking man. My conclusion is that he was a vary smart and well spoken man, Karl Doenitz was as well.
No, he was not a genius. HIs world view was too limited, and he had no vision. What one calls a genius is someone like Einstein, who ironically, and no doubt would have been to Hitler's displeasure, was a Jew.
Yes, or as Heinrich Heine put it: 'thoughts preceed action, as lightning precedes the thunder." Had his cautions to his fellow Germans in the 1820s been listened to, none of this would ever have happened. He was right about book-burning, and he was right about the inherent, Germanic love of militarism being tempered only by a thin veneer of christianity. He predicted a scene in Germany far worse than the mindless savagery of the French Revolution.
Speer was an opportunistic chameleon, always willing to change based on the way the wind blew. That last statement with the little chuckle at the end is evil that chills to the bone.
Saying you're glad you didn't get executed is evil? I'll admit the phrasing came off weird but wouldn't anyone be thinking that? The difference is that Speer said it. If he's an opportunist, he's not very good at it since he seems to be openly admitting it. And a 100% opportunist will never let people think they're an opportunist.
@@saltycrotchwhiff3946 Exactly! Very much a German type of humor. ..and the editor's decision to end the video right at that moment was a technique to illicit a certain reaction from the viewer.
They wanted to hand Doenitz for the unlimited submarine warfare, but the US Navy intervened to advocate a prison sentence for him because US naval officials were rather uncomfortable at the idea of executing someone for practicing unlimited submarine warfare as the US had also done against the Japanese.
@@williammerkel1410 Yes.. The business at Versailles where everything was blamed on the Germans as if the French or British never fired a shell that did any damage to anything during the war. The first thing a social worker will do when there is a severe domestic problem is to try and establish the idea that fights always involve the roles of two people. The wife that is constantly beaten persists in contributing to the problem by either not shooting the jerk she married or leaving him, etc. Did the allies have the god given right to kill Germans while Germans could only commit serious war crimes? It seemed so to the Germans. It was like a couple of three year olds arguing over a toy.
@@st0ox of course I was sarcastic with my comment. There was no chance for that and you can make a strong case that apart from gas chambers USSR was no different than Third Reich when it comes to conquered nations (just ask Poles, Ukrainians and so on).
@@Schyderap I think there was one mayor difference though. The Germans were very organized in systematically killing people with a specific background (Not just talking about the elephant in the room here, for example also Roma or disabled persons). They also had an ideology that was wrong on so many levels, but kinda justified their mass murder. The USSR on the other hand was much more chaotic and random in the killing. Of course they had probably the most successful intelligence organisation in the world* and were effective in killing so called enemies of they state, but they also killed so much more people purely random. * Stalingrad and the Bomb...you cannot top that. Maybe Alan Turing can top that if he had more time in his life and another mayor war to crack another enigma like thing or build an army of androids or something.
@@Schyderap I am Pole, sorry but, comparing 30 000 executed millitary men and a couple hundred dead in 40 years of Polish communist rule to 3 million murdered thanks to the Nazi is pretty stupid and offending, this kind of symetrism doesn't make you seem smart. One side wanted 90% of Polish population death, rest as slaves, the other wanted to establish communism even if it mean killing innocents or critics of the system
@@st0ox It wasn't random, enemies of power were profiled in the perseccussions. Your opinion reminds me of this satiric video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0wnkGUk_KHE.html
Dönitz was put on trial for war crimes acted through unlimited submarine warfare but he did not act very differently from British or US admirals as a soldier. US also waged unlimited sub-warfare against Japanese in the Pacific and Allies firebombed German and Japanese cities which imo was an act of war crime against civilians. But what really important here is that Dönitz was %100 anti-semite. I see no difference between pulling the trigger to kill an innocent and watching someone else do it without raising any objection if you share the same hatred of the murderer against the victim.
Gitta Sereny's book on Speer is the best analysis of him I have seen. She spent many weeks with him and his family while researching her book. Impossible to summarise in a few words, but basically she concluded he was in self-denial about his guilt. His is a classic case of the dangers of being flattered by someone with power, i.e. Hitler. Speer's flattered ego led him to take the path he did, and having gone down such a path, and been successful, even with the knowledge of what was happening (despite his denials) there was no turning back. In other circumstances, he would probably simply have been a moderately successful architect and family man.
A newly discovered letter by Adolf Hitler's architect and armaments minister Albert Speer offers proof that he knew about the plans to exterminate the Jews, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. Writing in 1971 to Hélène Jeanty, the widow of a Belgian resistance leader, Speer admitted that he had been at a conference where Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and Gestapo, had unveiled plans to exterminate the Jews in what is known as the Posen speech. Speer's insistence that he had left before the end of the meeting, and had therefore known nothing about the Holocaust, probably spared him from execution after the Nuremberg trials at the end of the second world war. It helped earn him the name of "the good Nazi" and the image of a genius architect who had misguidedly slipped into Nazi circles to further his career. Instead of facing death as many top Nazis did, Speer served 20 years in prison, mainly for using slave labour.
Doernitz's case at nuremburg is a case in point of how slippery lawyers can be. Charged with ordering U-boat crews to not rescue survivors of sinking ships, instead having them drown in the Atlantic ocean, he was spared death as his lawyer presented evidence that the US Navy did the same thing against Japan in the Pacific. The result was that Doernitz was only sentenced to 20 years in prison
Savchenkov1 I know it sounds bad but it’s kind of shocking just how smart he was. The Americans were stunned at the level of detail he was able to recall after the war. Good or bad he had an exceptionally interesting existence.
This is a gem. To understand history we need interviews like this of the key high ranking Nazi officials to understand their mindsets. Dönitz seems to be distancing himself from his Nazi past. I wonder why? Lol
He obviously liked the media attention and he was smart enough to understand the importance of the media and how he could use it for his own purpose ie to project a more positive image and distinguish himself from the other nazis in order to preserve his legacy. He worked hard to regain some respectability and he, undoubtedly, was served by his elegant, well-spoken, poised public persona.
Never heard their voices before. Striking. Dönitz is an interesting figure, more career and rank oriented than being a Nazi. His wiki reads like a powerplay in high ranks.
To be completely honest, I was genuinely starting to believe in the beginning that Speer, even though I already knew of his crimes, was actually an alright person. Of course I broke out of it, because I realized that's stupid, but it's honestly no wonder that that man escaped the noose he well deserved
@@rlm2933 what you mean good? do you know what that means?! Theodr Hertz the imposter is not even Joz they stole somebody land over a big fat lie these people are not joz who established Israel and ruling over palestine and jewish agency controling the world they ain't Jews
Well, unfortunately for him there is one ultimate justice that nobody escapes. Not all sins always go unpunished in this life, but they certainly don't go unpunished after this one.
@@darthroden Oh shut the fuck up, stop talking about an eventual afterlife like if know something, you ain't know shit about it, nobody ever came back from "there" to tell anything to anybody !
@@victorscaramanga7329 Ah and there is the inevitable atheist fascist response whenever someone mentioned the idea of an afterlife. Almost like clockwork. LOL!
Ordinary people and monsters, yet utterly fascinating characters. The interesting thing about a regime's crimes is always that the responsibility is not on one man, but on all men, thus a single man's responsibility might feel minimal. Speer saying that "freeloaders" should be sent to concentration camps, and admitting that this might mean simply people who opposed war, and being totally okay with hundreds or thousands being killed just for that is a very good example of this. He didn't even flinch there. He thought he just played a small part in a big game, but havent they all? I mean, in the end, they might think that Hitler alone was responsible, but that's impossible obviously. The numbers in the nazi party, the SS, the whole charade was millions and millions, all who did "their part" only. But if you add all that up you get what you get.
I must say that's the most beautifully spoken German I have ever listen to. Even with my rusty language skills it's crystal clear. If only they all sounded like that.
@Doug Bevins Yes, I very much doubt the career military admiral Dönitz was guilty of anything at all. His motives do not fit what he was accused of, and there is AMPLE proof that exonerates him, such as Dönitz ordering U-boats to render aid to drowning British and Italian prisoners after a torpedo strike. But then British and American bombers showed up and began strafing the U-boats (who were helping and had signalled openly on radio this intent, calling for British ships to show up and help too, endangering themselves) and even attacking the lifeboats with the British and American pilots shooting machineguns into densely packed groups of survivors, savagely murdering dozens. After that British-American warcrime, Dönitz amended orders for U-boats not to render aid. Then the side that carried out this savage murder of dozens of British seamen and Italian prisoners, had the audacity to accuse Dönitz of the 'no help rendered' state that they themselves had forced onto Dönitz with incidents such as this, and the British warcrime of using Q-ships under civilian colours. If you disagree and can show proof, by all means. But no dumbshit "But he wuz part of teh nazis!!!" exclamations please.
Speer was lucky to avoid the death penalty, he was heavily involved in slave labour, and yes he did try to improve the conditions for some slaves, it was only in the name of efficiency. So many people died under slave labour, he must avoided the rope because he cooperated.
He survived cos he blamed Sauckel, who wrongly hung. Speer was pure evil, like Hitler and Himmler. Above probably all of them bar Goering, at the main Nuremburg trial he deserved hanging.
listen to what the us-prosecuter at the nuremberg-trials had to say about speer. i guess that should be considered as the truest impression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DUOeLS2QK38.html
The final part.... He was much more attractive, inteligent and appealing, which gave the jury the benefit of the doubt... "Well, if that's what gave me the advantage for the 20 years prison sentence then i am happy that i made this positive impression" What a sentence....
Revealing when Speer talking during his private movies says something to the extent that all the top families hung out together in a way I would imagine the Mafia families would . Insightful !
War damages everything and everyone. One of my uncles was an AA gunner on the RCN Sioux. After arriving home in 1945 he kept a loaded shotgun under his bed. My grandmother asked him "Is it loaded?" He said "Of course it is mom. Mates of mine were driven mad doing convoy duty, and they're out on the streets in this city. If they come here I'd be a fool to have an unloaded weapon." - I have a recording of that during an interview in 1991, he died in 2018 still having nightmares. We watched "Sink The Bismark" together up to 3 times a day weekly during 2016. It helped him a lot to see some "justification" for his service. also: "We got off the train back home after the war and young girls gave us flowers and chocolate bars, calling us heroes. Let's face it, we had become killers." Canadian soldier arriving home 1945. The Big Shots like Speer, Doenitz, Churchill get all the press.
@@punkiller666 My uncle was 17 years old as an AA gunner, and a lot of the crew were teenagers as well. What they witnessed were crewmen on sinking cargo ships being burned alive in a sea of burning fuel oil, aviation gasoline or being blown to pieces when an ammunition carrier blew up. Also, in heavy seas crew members got washed overboard in mid ocean, never to been see again. When attacked by aircraft crew mates were seen just a few feet away being ripped to shreds by 30mm cannon fire. The captain of his escort destroyer also killed dozens of sailors swimming in the water after they jumped from their stricken ship,.by dropping depth charges set for 20 feet right on them, because the U-Boat was sitting just 30 feet below the waves under the men. He said the sailors shook their fists when they saw the depth charges arcing up to land on them and yelled "We'll see you bastards in Hell soon enough!". He could not forget that, no one could. The Navy rule was "kill the U-Boats, no matter what". When docked at Murmansk he witnessed hundreds of civilians drowning when their evacuation ship was hit just 100 feet away. This went on day after day for three years of convoy duty.
I honestly believe everyone in Germany knew what was going on or at least had some idea. My opinion is that they were afraid of the consequences of saying something or what would happen to their families. I assume for most it was out of sight and out of mind.
@@MAAAAAAAAAA123 I agree that most of the concentration camps were in the occupied territories but camps like Dachau, Bergin_Belsen, Ravensbruck, and Mauthausen being the most famous, were in Germany. With all the rhetoric the Nazi's were spewing, the people, especially the people who lived by one couldn't help but know what was going on.
@thomas anderson Nits make lice as some famous US Calvery person said. Remember the jews were asked to leave Germany and they did not. Nobody wanted them. Britain would not let them have Palestine. Do not look at back then with right now.
As the war went on I think they all knew but didn't care and knew that there was nothing that individually anyone could do so nothing was done to organize an end other than annihilation.
As far as I know, his children have broken with him. But they gave interviews and they are respected people in Germany. Nobody has blamed the children.
I am thankful that those survived and were able to tell their stories, whether they are believable or not. Thats much more useful to us younger generations than any german high command staff that was executed as punishment after the war.
MARCO KA nur Nazis sehen nicht dass dönutz tausende u Boot Leute und Zivilisten umgebracht hat; auch hat hitler ihn zum Nachfolger gemacht;; und im Interview wird er mit seiner Aussage über „das zersetzende Gift des judentums“ konfrontiert; Speer und dönitz hätten eher an den Galgen gehört als Streicher.
