Speer claimed that his decision to become an architect had nothing to do with his father.[3] He considered urban planning to be his main area, rather than architecture.[4] He won his first international prize in 1964, and then opened his own architect's office. He also worked in Saudi Arabia. In 1977, he became professor of urban planning at the University of Kaiserslautern in the state of Rheinland-Palatinate. His firm has had an office in Shanghai since 2001.[5]
He died on 15 September 2017 at the age of 83 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, after complications with a surgery performed after falling in his home.[10]
Masterplan for the EXPO 2000 Hannover
BMW-branch Dreieich
Victoria-Turm Mannheim
Oval am Baseler Platz building in Frankfurt am Main
As with the other children of Nazi officials, such as Gudrun Himmler and Edda Göring, Speer had to approach the topic of his father's infamy. While Himmler would attempt to rehabilitate her father's image, and Göring tried her best to avoid speaking about it at all, Speer said that he "tried his whole life to separate himself from his father".[3] He is credited with being one of the few children of Nazi leaders to recognize the wrongs of their parent. Speer said that, as a child, his father "was not the kind of father who went over your homework", referring to inattentiveness and mild neglect, but also said that Hitler was "a nice uncle, from my childish perspective."[11] He said he did not hate his father and considered him "a good architect, much more modern than people think today".[12]
References
^Sereny, Gitta (1995). Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth. London: Macmillan. pp. 336, 426, 641. ISBN0333645197.
