The Bunker by James O'Donnell Book Report

Bibliography: ODonnell, James. The lying in wait. New York: Da Capo Press, 2001.

Text:The Bunker?By mid-April, besides one day in the first place the Battle of Berlin was to begin, who was present in the bunker? ?Johannes Hentschel? Sergeant Misch? working the shift with? Corporal Exmann. fewwhat thirty members of the FBK, under Lieutenant Colonel Franz Schaedle? study General Rattenhuber? buffer zone Hans Baur? Martin Bormann is not only present; he is omnipresent? Major Otto Guensche, the t every(prenominal) rugged soldier? There ar whatever dozen women present? Fraulein Constanze Manzialy? Fraulein Else Krueger? Fraulein Johanna Wolf? Fraulein Christa Schroeder? Frau Gerda Christian? Frau Gertrud Junge? Kempka? is usually in or most the bunker ? as are Heinz Linge and some half-dozen early(a) minor charges. Ernst Kaltenbrunner? and Heinrich Mueller, chief of the Gestapo? SS Lieutenant General Hermann Fegelein? The Reich Chancellery convocation in 1945 included two ministers, Speer and Goebbels?? (O?Donnell 97)Through daunting vocabulary, the perplexing allusions, the numerous threads of rumor that lead to nowhere and the sheer cardinal scalawags of prologue, I managed to wrestle my way and managed to appreciate this detailed series of interviews stringed together to make a story of the last weeks of state of war. The Bunker by James P. O?Donnell at times is as dull as an old documentary, while some muscae volitantes are as fresh as gossip. However, finished the flat and the appealing, my favorite places were the sections where new characters of this storybook were introduced and fleshed out. And out of the characters, my favorite was Albert Speer.

I live no interrogation that my own admiration may be heavily influenced from the author?s. plain in the prologue, when the author quoted Speer, he stated, ?It was the first of seventeen interviews I had with him?? (O?Donnell 13) On the next page: ?Speer, of course, is a most exceptional man, able to articulate his experience.? (O?Donnell 14) throughout this book, I felt the same way, admiring how Speer, or earlier each of the witnesses could speak so freely nearly their experiences in the Fuehrerbunker.

In Chapter III, The Bunker Brutus, Speer?s life seems summarized. He began as ?a young and ambitious architect? (O?Donnell 66) with ?a deep cloud of patriotism in him? (O?Donnell 66). After he became the war output minister, Speer was excellent and he had reprised, even tripled German arms production. However, he first love was architecture, and as an knowing architect, ?Speer had always been hard-boiled by Hitler as an equal? (O?Donnell 66). He designed many an(prenominal) structures, including the second Reich Chancellery, but unfortunately, the only tributes to him today are the double row of lampposts he designed on the road through the Tiergarten.

Speer was one of the few in Hitler?s closest wad who outwardly protested against Hitler?s means. All his loyalty to the Fuehrer seems to abide evaporated when he first read the quotes (from Mein Kampf) given to him by Dr. Lueschen. He accomplished that Hitler was just about ?Nation? Tyranny? Folk? affair?? (O?Donnell 68), and cared about little else. Thus, he seriously began thinking about ?the last of at least nine serious character assassination attempts.? (O?Donnell 60)When walking with Hentschel, Speer realized that the only way to end the war now is to kill Hitler. And as Hitler is currently in the Fuehrerbunker, in that location weren?t many ways to accomplish such an intimidating task. Seeing his chance, Speer asked for Hentschel to murder the old filter in the air-intake. without delay all had been set up, Speer just needed the gas. However, ironically, Speer, as the troops minister, had access to large weapons (such as ?a bomber, a tiger tank,? and ?even a V-2 rocket? (O?Donnell 71)), yet could not orison any gas without arousing suspicion.

With the help of a close consort and ally, Stahl, Speer finally managed to secure some mustard gas. The day before his plan was to take action, Speer wandered into the Chancellery garden and was ready to ask Hentschel to remove the filter of the air-intake. ?Four armed SS guards of the FBK? greeted him, and ?Speer froze in sheer little terror? (O?Donnell 73). Fortunately, they SS men were focused on the chimney they were installing rather than Speer. Not frustrated, but relieved by this failed attempt, Speer decided to be smarter and instead postpone Hitler?s plans in other ways.

This intro of courage on Speer?s part is astounding. Speer had always been Hitler?s protégé, and to backstab Hitler like so seems unimaginable. I doubt Hitler would wipe out ever suspected that Speer had such rebellious thoughts, seeing that he brought Speer out of anonymity and made him the important minister he was at the height of Hitler?s reign.

While the other Reich host members seem irreproachable, Albert Speer, in Hentschel?s words, ??was one of the few case Socialist big wheels who was similarly a naturally informal man. He knew how to talk to a worker without talking exhaust to him? (O?Donnell 60).



Speer understood people, and was friendly with most of the Reich group and Hitler?s ad hominem friends, including Eva Braun. Speer was simply nice.

Speer also shows genuine compassion, which I feel Bormann, Goebbels and others lacked. Even as Berlin?s fall was imminent, Speer was still thinking about the Goebbels? children. ?The plan was to hide them aboard the barge, with ample provisions, then piano float the self-propelled barge? to the Americans? (O?Donnell 126). He had known all the children and liked all of them. However, his plan was foiled/prevented from happening by Joseph Goebbels, and he was ashamed when he saw the children ?whom he seek to save but was now abandoning? (O?Donnell 128). Abandon is too tart of a word to use here, as Speer clearly meant well.

Speer also reached a touchy matter with Hitler to airlift some Czechoslovakian managers to Munich. After Hitler approved of it without any objections, Speer also proved himself to be realistic. The frustratingly pompous foreign minister Ribbentrop wanted the document to computer address because he cogitated ?that such a project required his grace? (O?Donnell 132). Speer did not wish to argue with such a absurd claim, thus he added, ?approved by the Fuehrer at the proposition of the foreign minister? (O?Donnell 126), to appease Ribbentrop.

I know I make believe glorified, and perhaps deified Albert Speer, but I truly believe he deserves such praise. He was a dedicated and talented architect. He was frank about his activities during the Nuremberg Trials, as he real did not know about the Holocaust. It was outside of his field, and although he deployed the blazonry around the Reich, Speer did not design the concentration camps. He should have inquired about the Jews, but for someone so close to the Fuehrer, all his actions were watched, and there was little he could do without provoking suspicion. In the whole, he is someone I would like to be. I doubt I would have ever stood up to Hitler, and would I have felt compelled to help Magda Goebbels and her children? But then again, I am a high school student.

This book opened my eyeball to World War II. Goring, Axmann, Fegelein, Baur, Ribbentrop, I?m proud to say, are all my new acquaintances. (The photos in the book helped.) Surprisingly, after other students warned me, this book wasn?t as dry, and I know I will re-read the exploits of Speer, Stahl, and all the others who dared to defy Hitler.

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