1969: Albert Speer, Hitler's favourite architect and Minister for Armaments, publishes his memoirs. Rewriting his own past, from his involvement in Nazi rallies to the fall of the Third Reich, he becomes 'the good Nazi', the poster child of German guilt. Claiming to have known nothing about the Final Solution despite his proximity to the Führer, he declares himself 'collectively responsible, but not individually guilty'.
How do you write about a man who made fiction more seductive than truth?
Retracing Speer's life, from his early years as a Nazi to the height of his power, to his post-war rebranding as a best-selling author, and artfully questioning the truthfulness of his stories, Jean-Noël Orengo offers a dizzying portrait of the man who was once described as the Führer's unrequited love. In an age of competing narratives, this is the story of one of history's greatest lies.
Translated from French by David Watson.
