by David Edgar
SPEER. And may I ask, is all this typical? This gloomy music?
Pause.
GANZENMÜLLER. It is typical of men so far from home.
SPEER. In circumstances such as these.
MAJOR. And up against what they are up against.
WOLTERS. The elements?
MAJOR. The enemy.
SPEER looks surprised.
Oh yes, Herr Speer. First thing you learn about the Ivan, don’t underestimate his natural resourcefulness. Give him an axe, in a few hours time he’ll have knocked up anything. A sledge, an igloo . . . And the way they use that damned T-34.
WOLTERS. The tank.
MAJOR. The tank . . . the pillbox, the bivouak, the bulldozer . . . And Army Group Centre enters Russia with 2,000 different types of vehicle.
GANZENMÜLLER. And a million spare parts.
MAJOR. And all they’re issued with is fuel and ammo. So if they need spare parts, they rip ’em from the wrecks. Oh, yes, despite the propaganda, we have an enemy.
SPEER. The propaganda?
MAJOR. Surely you’ve heard the shit. ‘One good strong kick, and the whole rotten edifice falls in’.
A moment of stand off, between SPEER and the MAJOR.
And you know they say you have to kill each Ivan twice. And no one who draws blood here leaves the place alive.
SPEER. And I’m sure you discourage such defeatist talk, Herr Major. Concentrating solely on ensuring that these brave young men are properly supplied. As will I.
MAJOR. But of course, Herr General Inspector.
The MAJOR goes out.
GANZENMÜLLER. And now you will forgive me. Tomorrow I have to open up a railway line as far as Sinelnikovo. With the assistance of the Speer Construction Squad, and a goodly slice of the surrounding peasantry.
SPEER. And they are collaborative?
GANZENMÜLLER. Collaborative and numerous. Goodnight, Herr Speer.
He goes out.
WOLTERS. Apparently, the chaps say that the Jewish details are the best. They work double shifts, even voluntarily. Of course, they know that if they don’t –
SPEER. That Ganzenmüller is presumably the best man we have.
WOLTERS. A man for whom the word impossible does not exist?
SPEER. Exactly and precisely so.
They stand listening to the music for a moment.
I have a brother, out here, somewhere, Rudi.
The scene disperses.
SPEER. And so on the evening of the 7th February I arrived at Hitler’s eastern field HQ, hoping to report to the Minister of Armaments, Dr Todt, who had built the autobahns and to whom I was, in a sense at least, now working. But when I arrived I was informed that Dr Todt had been with Hitler for some time. And later that he was in the operations room.
1.8 Operations Room of Rastenberg barracks,
7 February 1942
Dominated by a huge table map of Europe, the room bears evidence of a long day – papers, half eaten pastries, trays of coffee long since gone cold. At the back are two young STAFF OFFICERS taking information from telephones; occasionally they move forward to move a flag on the map. At the moment, the room is empty apart from TODT who stands looking at the map, a brandy glass in his hand. Enter SPEER with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
TODT. Champagne?
SPEER. Champagne.
SPEER pours TODT a glass of champagne and hands it over, as:
TODT. Maybe we should have stuck to France.
SPEER. Ah, but I hear the Georgian wines are marvellous.
TODT. Oh, well, then. Let’s plough on.
SPEER laughs, as a STAFF OFFICER moves forward with an intelligence report.
SPEER. How is the Chief?
STAFF OFFICER. Heil Hitler, Herr Reichsminister.
TODT. ’Hitler.
TODT doesn’t want to answer SPEER’s question with someone listening. The STAFF OFFICER moves a flag on the map, as:
TODT. So how long are you here for?
SPEER. I should leave tomorrow. On that ghastly train.
The STAFF OFFICER withdraws.
TODT. Speer, have you actually read Mein Kampf?
SPEER. Well, not exactly. In fact, I told the Chief. He said not to bother, it had been overtaken by events.
TODT. Well, yes, in some respects. However.
He takes out a notebook and reads from it.
‘The task of diplomacy is to ensure that a nation does not heroically perish, but that measures are taken to preserve it’.
Pause.
SPEER. So what’s the relevance of that?
TODT. It is relevant to what I’ve spent the last two hours trying to explain to him.
SPEER. Which is?
TODT. That if we haven’t beaten Russia by Christmas then we’ve lost the war.
SPEER has to ask the question:
SPEER. So, why?
TODT. American technology, and Russian space. I mean, just look at it.
SPEER. Well, yes but on the other –
TODT. Oh, and your housekeeper.
SPEER. My housekeeper?
TODT. You have one?
SPEER. Yes.
TODT. And your maid. And maybe a governess?
SPEER. I’ve got five children.
TODT. We are in the third year of what is now a world war. And we employ the same number of domestic servants as we did in 1939. And when you raise the possibility of mobilising women workers, like the Russians, like the British, you are told about the moral threat to German womanhood. Oh, and look.
There’s a tray of coffee things. He picks up a paper-wrapped sugar cube from the sugar bowl.
We’re still wrapping sugar-cubes in pretty paper.
SPEER. I understand you were two days away from running out of ball-bearings.
TODT. No, worse. We were nearly out of screws.
SPEER. Who’d have your job?
TODT. Oh, Speer.
The other STAFF OFFICER comes forward, to move a flag. SPEER and TODT notice that he moves the flag that his colleague moved forward back. TODT is a little drunk.
Hey. You don’t want that shitty train. I’m flying to Berlin at daybreak. Want a ride?
The STAFF OFFICER withdraws. SPEER, trying something out:
SPEER. Of course . . . in fact, there’s millions. Men and women. In the east. Collaborative and numerous.
TODT. Aha. The ‘Slav subhumans’.
SPEER. Yes. But what I meant was that they might –
TODT. I’m sorry. You’re a young man. You think solutions. I just – brood.
SPEER smiles, as if to say ‘don’t worry’.
I’ll see you on the plane.
TODT goes. SCHAUB enters. During the following, the young STAFF OFFICERS go too.
SCHAUB. Herr General Inspector. You’re still up.
SPEER. Yes. Though I think I’m going to bed.
SCHAUB. He wants to see you.
SPEER (looks at his watch). Oh, can’t you tell him . . .
SCHAUB. He is on his way.
Enter HITLER. SCHAUB salutes.
’Hitler!
HITLER acknowledges. SCHAUB goes out. HITLER is still ruffled from his conversation with TODT, but suppressing it.
HITLER. My dear Speer. How are you?
SPEER. My Führer. Very well. Perhaps a little tired.
HITLER. How are Frau Speer and your family?
SPEER. I fear I haven’t seen them in a while.
HITLER. You have been in the Ukraine. Now don’t remind me. Albert, Hilde . . . Fritz, Margaret . . . Ernst.
SPEER. Arnold. Who is nearly two. Ernst is my brother.
HITLER (that explains it). Ah.
SPEER. Who is a little more than two.
HITLER. And presumably . . .
SPEER. Serves in the sixth at Krasnograd.
HITLER. Ah. There are bold and heroic deeds in prospect for the Sixth. So, Arnold nearly two.
SPEER (smiling). In fact, I’m going home tom
orrow.
HITLER. Not by train I trust. I will have von Below get you on a flight.
SPEER. Thank you, my Führer. But I have arranged a lift with the minister of armaments first thing.
HITLER. Oh, have you?
Slight pause.
SPEER. I saw him earlier.
HITLER. Yes, so did I.
Slight pause.
SPEER. He seemed . . .
HITLER. Speer, we live in times when only optimists can achieve anything. The trouble with Herr Todt is that he is fundamentally and unshakably a pessimist. Whose pessimism extends beyond his own domain, to matters which do not concern him.
SPEER. I think he is worried about the labour problem.
HITLER. I know. But I will not drive German women from their homes.
SPEER takes the sugar cube from his pocket.
SPEER. I think he feels that under total war there are some things –
HITLER picks up a sugar cube and eats it.
HITLER. And I will not deny them some at least of the things that make life civilised and elegant.
SPEER puts the sugar cube back in his pocket.
SPEER. When of course . . . we have twenty million potential men and women workers under our control.
HITLER. Well exactly. Twenty million Slav subhumans. Leaderless, supine, with no defence against the Jew-Communist embrace. I tell you, Speer, now is not the time to use Salvation Army methods! Set them all to work!
SPEER. Well, of course it is not precisely my area of responsibility –
HITLER. No. You are not Dr Todt.
HITLER goes to SPEER and pats his shoulder.
Your charming wife. Your lovely family. From Albert down to Arnold nearly two. Yet your absolute priority? The greater German good.
Slight pause.
I am adamant about the women. But it may be . . . that we should ensure that production for the civilian market . . . is in proportion to the national need.
SPEER. Well, I’m sure that would be –
HITLER. What is the time?
SPEER. I fear it’s very late –
HITLER (looks at SPEER’s watch). You’re going to fly in three hours’ time?
SPEER. Well, I . . .
HITLER. It’s up to you.
Pause.
Sometimes, I regret what history requires of me. One cannot be the Führer all one’s life. This war is robbing me of my best years. Sometimes I think, I should hang up my field grey jacket and go home to Linz, my birthplace on the Danube, where my remains will lie . . . But I have burnt my bridges. So have you.
Slight pause.
You know, it may well be . . . that I will need to speak with you tomorrow.
He looks at SPEER.
Shall I have von Below call the pilot?
SPEER. No, I’ll do it.
HITLER. Well.
Slight pause.
You’re right. Twenty million foreign workers. Teach them to read roadsigns. Tell them the capital of Germany’s Germania. And work them all like dogs to death. Goodnight.
SPEER. Heil my Führer!
HITLER. And Heil Speer.
HITLER goes. Darkness. We hear the sound of an aeroplane taking off and then immediately spiralling down to crash.
1.9.1 Courtyard of the Ministry of Armaments,
9 February 1942. Morning
It’s snowing. A microphone has been set up in the courtyard. ANNEMARIE and WOLTERS enter. OFFICIALS from the Ministry of Armaments have gathered, including the senior STATE SECRETARY and his young male administrative ASSISTANT. As SPEER enters to the microphone, he takes off his overcoat. He is in uniform, with a swastika armband. He hands his coat to ANNEMARIE.
ANNEMARIE. But, Herr Speer . . .
SPEER. It’s all right, Wittenberg.
ANNEMARIE glances questioningly at WOLTERS, who shrugs, as SPEER begins to speak.
SPEER. Party Comrades! Esteemed employees of the Ministry of Armaments! It is my sad duty to report that at the zenith of his labours, your leader Reichsminister Professor Todt was taken from you yesterday in a plane crash in East Prussia.
Shock.
The Führer has placed me in charge of all Dr Todt’s roles and functions.
People look at each other.
I have proposed – and the Führer has agreed – to free our war production industries from the shackles of duplication and bureaucracy. I have recommended – and the Führer has enthusiastically approved – the severest penalties for the use of materials, machinery or manpower for unauthorised or private purposes. With the Führer’s keen endorsement, I have ordered the full mobilisation of up to twenty million workers from the conquered territories.
A little applause; alarm from the STATE SECRETARY.
I have nothing else to say. We have a war to win and we shall win it. Sieg Heil!
SPEER leaves the microphone.
STATE SECRETARY. Well, congratulations, Herr Reichsminister.
The REST dispersing. We see an army private, on the edge of the crowd, waiting. It is Speer’s brother ERNST.
SPEER. Thank you, State Secretary. Rudi, have Wittenberg call up that railway engineer we met in the Ukraine.
STATE SECRETARY. However, I must respectfully enquire about the matter of –
WOLTERS. You mean, the one for whom the word ‘impossible’ . . . ?
SPEER. Precisely so.
STATE SECRETARY. . . . as to what specifically is meant by ‘freeing war production from duplication and bureaucracy’. As of course –
SPEER. I think he is about to be promoted. Yes, State Secretary?
STATE SECRETARY. And . . . exactly what is meant by it.
SPEER. Well, certainly, I am eager to discuss all aspects of the new production policy. Do I have an office?
STATE SECRETARY. Yes of course.
ANNEMARIE. Herr Speer, there is something I must ask you.
SPEER. I will be with you in a moment.
WOLTERS and the STATE SECRETARY go.
SPEER. Of course, I didn’t realise at first. I thought he meant for me to take over Todt’s construction work –
ANNEMARIE. Herr Speer, do you intend for me to remain your secretary in your new post?
SPEER. Of course.
ANNEMARIE. Because if so I would like a day or two to think about it.
ERNST. Albert.
SPEER. What?
He turns to see ERNST.
ANNEMARIE. And as I have already booked a holiday . . .
SPEER. Why – Ernst.
ANNEMARIE. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind . . .
SPEER. Please, Wittenberg . . . a moment.
ANNEMARIE thrown by the sight of SPEER’s brother.
ANNEMARIE. Yes of course.
SPEER. Ernst, why are you here?
ANNEMARIE. But it is Frau Kempf, Herr Speer. As you may recall, you commissioned me to buy a present for my wedding.
She goes out, leaving SPEER and ERNST alone.
ERNST. Here in Berlin? On leave. Here at your ministry? Our mother telephoned me with your news. She said that I should come at once so you could get me out.
Enter the STATE SECRETARY’S ASSISTANT.
ASSISTANT. Reichsminister, I have to tell you that the State Secretary is waiting.
SPEER. I will be with him in a moment. What d’you mean?
The ASSISTANT goes out.
ERNST. I mean that you get me transferred to the west.
SPEER. Oh Ernst you know I can’t do that.
ERNST. Whyever not? You’re the Minister of Armaments.
SPEER. But I have been appointed quite specifically to stamp out special favours –
ERNST. Our mother said you would. She said you’d do this for her sake.
Enter WOLTERS.
WOLTERS. Albert, the natives are getting restless –
SPEER. One moment. Ernst, I’ll do my best. I shouldn’t but I will.
ERNST. To do what?
SPEER. To get you transferred to the
west. Now, Rudi . . .
ERNST. Oh, Albert. When?
SPEER. Well, obviously, at the end of this campaign.
ERNST (desperate). I’m sorry . . . ?
SPEER. Rudi, please tell them that I’m on my way . . .
ERNST. Well, then, that’s that. We are preparing the advance towards the Volga.
The STATE SECRETARY is coming out into the courtyard.
STATE SECRETARY. Now, I am so sorry, Herr Reichsminister –
ERNST. So, till we meet again, Herr Professor Speer.
He salutes.
SPEER. Ernst, please, a moment –
STATE SECRETARY. But if you are to alter Ministry practices and protocols to the extent that you imply, then I will need to know on what authority these proposals have been made and who will be deemed responsible –
ERNST. I’m sorry. I will miss my train.
SPEER. Ernst, stay. State Secretary, it is not me implying anything. It is implementing what the Führer has commanded. That is ‘my authority’.
ERNST. Heil Hitler!
He clicks his heels, salutes, turns, and goes quickly out, SPEER turns back to him.
SPEER. Ernst . . . What?
Turning back.
Do you see?
Outflanked, the STATE SECRETARY senses that he must leave and be followed.
STATE SECRETARY. I await you in your office, Herr Reichsminister.
He goes out.
WOLTERS. Your brother?
SPEER. Yes. He’s a private with the sixth.
WOLTERS. I know, you told me. So what really happened in East Prussia?
SPEER (still looking after ERNST). I thought he meant I was to take on Todt’s construction work. I didn’t know he wanted me to be the Minister of Armaments.
WOLTERS. I meant, what happened to Herr Todt?
SPEER turns back to his old friend.
SPEER. Apparently, there was diminished visibility . . . It’s thought the pilot couldn’t make out the horizon.
WOLTERS. Ah.
SPEER. But of course . . . this matter isn’t our domain.
1.9.2 Berlin, November 1942
SPEER turns to CASALIS.
SPEER. So what was I to do? I didn’t even shake his hand. And then as the weeks went by there was my father.
SPEER’S FATHER appears.
FATHER. He’s in an advanced observation unit. He is ill. He is your brother. Surely you, you of all people, can get him out.
SPEER. And as the months, my mother.
FATHER disappears, ANNEMARIE appears.