Spandau Prison

Had that earlier collaboration with Nitze and his colleagues saved his life? It was a question which would persist for years to come, especially in view of what happened next.

On July the 18th, 1947, Albert Speer arrived at Spandau prison in Berlin.

He faced two decades behind bars.

Known simply as prisoner number five, Speer slipped into a monotonous routine.

In fact, he began to reinvent himself, creating the image of the good

Nazi.

He found himself in constant demand for interviews, particularly when the book he'd clandestinely written in Spandau was published in 1970.

Entitled Inside the Third Reich, Speer's compelling account of his life and times in Nazi Germany became an international bestseller.

A number of them die in prison.

Rudolf Hess dies in Spandau prison.

But there are a lot of Nazis that escape to South America.

Notably, the worst of them may be Joseph Mengele.

So he was not sentenced to death like very many of his co-defendants.

Uh, he served the full 20 years in Spandau Prison alongside other prominent Nazis, such as Albert Speer, and is finally released in September 1966.

After his release, Schirach largely disappears from German public life.

So he published his memoirs in which he attempts to explain his faith in Hitler and his role in the Nazi movement.

And with the sentences handed out, they are released.

The seven to be sent to prison remain incarcerated at Nuremberg before being transferred to Spandau Prison in Berlin.

For those sentenced to death, they return to prison to await their fate, death by hanging, scheduled for October the 16th.

But one of the condemned is determined to die on his own terms.

But before I do that, I, I, uh, I want to discuss the end of Hess's life to kind of tie it into, uh, tie it into the, the preceding two, uh, discussions we've had.

Hess languished in Spandau Prison for forty-six years, um, or not, for forty years.

But, you know, before, but prior to that, he was, uh, he, he was housed at Spandau itself from July 18th, 1947, until August 17th, 1987.

Previously, he'd been housed at Mayhill Barracks immediately upon his capture, which was in Glasgow, then Buchanan Castle, which was a disused, uh, uh, uh, castle keep, which I think had been in Surrey, England, which I think had been used by the Territorial Army, but I'm not sure.

So this was one man in this literal castle complex.

Now, another bizarre thing, you could not make this up.

Spandau Prison, it was the responsibility of the Allied Control Council.

So all four powers had equal dominion over it.

What does it mean?

Spandau was, Spandau Prison is a place in, uh, Germany, I wanna say.

Oh.

You are gold.