ds inside Spandau prison was that they had charge of 20 old men, who wern't likely to try to escape, and wern't likely to attack the guards, but who would, in many cases, act like spoilt children, and who might try to do harm to their own persons. Reality for the 20 prisoners was at least 20 different things.
For Albert Speer, reality for months on end was a walk across Europe, although, for the prison guards, it seemed as if Speer's reality was just walking endless circles around the small prison yard. For Albert Speer, though, both the cold of winter and the heat of the summer were experienced in his trip across Europe, as were the spring rains, and the leaves falling in the autumn.
For other long months, reality for Albert Speer was reliving his life as a member of Adolph Hitler's entourage in running the Third Reich, as he recorded these memories on thin sheets of toilet paper which he kept hidden from the prison guards, and which he later smuggled out through his son during the son's visits to the prison. The prison guards, during this 1
particular reality of Speer, saw only a middle aged man appar ently sitting idle on his prison bed perhaps deep in thought, perhaps with a blank mind.
The daily events which were the interactions between the prison staff and the prisoners were just momentary intrusions on Albert Speer's reality. For him, reality was where his mind took him. Although all of Spandau's prisoners and all of its staff shared many common experiences, these actual experiences were not the reality for all. Many, perhaps most, found reality far from Spandau Prison.
My room is confining. It presses on my mind, as well as on my body. I would like to have enough space to enjoy the freedom of a little chaos in the care of my belongings. As it is, I must spend what seems to me to be an inordinate amount of my time in simply arranging things, and putting everything in its place, for, if I don't, I will ha...