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Section III (Personalities): Albert Speer, Hitler's Architect and Minister of Armaments
Quick questions on Speer as Minister of Armaments: HSC Modern History Personality
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is appointment, 8 February 1942?Show answer
Fritz Todt, Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions since 17 March 1940, was killed in an aircraft crash near Rastenburg on 8 February 1942. Hitler, who had been told Speer had requested a meeting that morning, appointed Speer to all of Todt's offices the same day. Speer was 36.
What is production output?Show answer
The Speer years saw a remarkable rise in armaments output despite Allied bombing.
What is speer at Posen, October 1943?Show answer
The Posen Conference of 4 to 6 October 1943, in occupied Polish Poznan, gathered the Gauleiter, Reichsleiter, and senior SS officers. Himmler addressed the conference on 4 October with his notorious speech that openly described the extermination of Jews ("an unwritten and never-to-be-written page of glory"). Speer addressed the conference on 6 October with a demand for labour quotas and a threat to deport recalcitrant factory owners to concentration camps. Both speeches were recorded and survive.
What is q1?Show answer
Source A is an extract from Speer's Inside the Third Reich (1969) on the armaments miracle. Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain Speer's role as Armaments Minister. [5 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Evaluate the extent to which the armaments miracle was the product of Speer's personal leadership. [25 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Compare the views of Richard Overy and Magnus Brechtken on Speer's wartime production. [10 marks]
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