Albert Speer (play)

Albert Speer is a play by David Edgar, first performed in 2000. The play focuses on the life and career of Albert Speer, the Nazi architect and Minister of Armaments and War Production during World War II. It examines Speer's relationship with Adolf Hitler, his role in the Nazi regime, and his attempts to distance himself from the atrocities of the Holocaust at the Nuremberg trials.

The play draws heavily on Speer's autobiography, Inside the Third Reich, and seeks to explore the complexities of Speer's character: a highly intelligent and capable technocrat who claimed ignorance of the regime's genocidal policies, a claim that remains highly controversial. Edgar's play delves into the moral compromises Speer made, and questions the nature of personal responsibility within a totalitarian system. It probes whether Speer's claims of ignorance were genuine or a calculated attempt to avoid execution at Nuremberg.

Key themes within Albert Speer include: the seductive nature of power, the banality of evil, the moral responsibility of technocrats, and the problem of historical memory and denial. The play often employs documentary-style techniques, incorporating verbatim testimony from the Nuremberg trials. It aims to present a balanced, though ultimately critical, portrait of Speer, encouraging audiences to grapple with the difficult questions he raises about complicity and guilt.