Part 1, Chapters 5-8 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 5, "Architectural Megalomania," shows Speer's career blossom in 1934, following the "blood purge" of Ernst Roehm. Speer rebuilds the Borsig Palace, designs Pres. Hindenburg's funeral, and redesigns Zeppelin Field in Nuremberg as a Doric-influenced stone structure destined to remain for ages as a witness to the greatness of the builders' epoch. Hitler approves Speer's "Theory of Ruin Value" for future building. When Hitler first meets Margarete at an official reception, he predicts that her husband will erect buildings unseen in 4,000 years. Speer masses 130 searchlights to create the first "cathedral of light" and masses striking swastika flags to disguise drab façades. He finds Hitler's "cultural speeches" incisive at the time but now shallow and repulsive. Meeting filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl at the Rallies, he sees that the leadership can work up the crowds during staged speeches but does not...