Albert Speer Jr. (; 29 July 1934 – 15 September 2017) was a German

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

. He was the son of

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

(1905–1981),

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's chief architect before assuming the office of Minister of Armaments and War Production for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His grandfather, Albert Friedrich Speer, was also an architect.

Career

Speer claimed that his decision to become an architect had nothing to do with his father. He considered urban planning to be his main area, rather than architecture. He won his first international prize in 1964, and then opened his own architect's office. He also worked in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. In 1977, he became professor of

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

at the

University of Kaiserslautern The University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (German: ''Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau'', also known as RPTU) is a public research university in Kaiserslautern and Landau in der Pfalz, Germany. The university wa ...

in the state of Rheinland-Palatinate. His firm has had an office in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

since 2001. In 1984, he founded the company Büro Albert Speer & Partner in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. He was responsible for the design of Expo 2000 in Hanover, design of the Shanghai International Automobile City, and the central axis in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

created while serving as lead designer for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

. Speer was part of the architectural firm involved in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

's bid for the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

, and in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. He died on 15 September 2017 at the age of 83 in

, Germany, after complications with a surgery performed after falling in his home. File:Master Plan of EXPO 2000 Hannover.jpg, Masterplan for the EXPO 2000 Hannover File:BMW Dreieich.JPG, BMW-branch Dreieich File:Victoria-Turm in Mannheim.jpg, Victoria-Turm Mannheim File:Baseler Oval BStaubach.jpg, Oval am Baseler Platz building in Frankfurt am Main File:Europaviertel modell.jpg, Europaviertel in Frankfurt am Main (Model)

Relationship with his father

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". 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." He said he did not hate his father and considered him "a good architect, much more modern than people think today".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Speer, Albert Jr. 1934 births 2017 deaths 20th-century German architects Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Albert Architects from Berlin Deaths from falls