At the Nuremberg Trial and through his bestselling books, Albert Speer,Hitler’s architect and minister, could successfully project an image ofhimself as the «gentleman Nazi». Using hitherto unexplored archivalsources, this book looks at those aspects of his career that Speerretrospectively manipulated (e.g. his resistance to Hitler’s Neroorder), to construct this image. The evolution of the «Speer myth»,analysed here, shows how West Germany’s politics influenced Speer’snarrative, as well as the impact that his image had on FederalRepublic’s efforts to cope with its past. This book also examines therole of historians and public intellectuals in and outside Germany inreinforcing the Speer myth – the British historian Hugh Trevor Roper andthe Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal among others.https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-05248-0