We are always taught that after WWII, Germany underwent an intensive de-nazification program and most Germans were sincerely repentant at the crimes their government had committed.
But I question that narrative after reading the cold reception that Albert Speer got when he referred to Hitler as a criminal in one of his post-war books.
If people were so mad about what Speer said, does this imply many Germans still considered Hitler a hero, even after everyone knew about the Holocaust and war crimes?
Speer is unique in the fact that people viewed the way he condemned Hitler not only at Nuremberg (which undoubtedly saved his life ) and later in his books as a special kind of treason, not against the Fuhrer in the strictest sense, but it disrespected or defiled the struggle that most Germans went through from 1939-1945, especially during the last few years of the war.
What makes Speer's denunciation even harder to swallow for many was the fact that Speer was without question the closest thing Hitler ever had to a friend; Speer had been there from virtually the beginning and despite the fact his involvement was limited to firstly architecture and central planning, he later played a pivotal role in prolonging and supporting both the war and the German war effort respectively as minister for armaments with the backing of Hitler (much to the jealously of his many rivals, those of whom who were still alive at Nuremberg, such as Sauckel and Funk, made sure to paint him in as negative a light as possible). Speer definitely genuinely became disillusioned about Hitler as the war drew to a close, but even so the way in which he cooly, almost arrogantly, dismissed Hitler as a megalomaniac drew ire from the defendants at Nuremberg (Particularly Goring, who lambasted him as a traitor across the docks when Speer admitted to planning to poison Hitler via the Führerbunker's filtration system) as well as many of Speer's friends from his Ministerial days (most notably as you have mentioned Rohland, his long term friend who helped write his books and supported his family whilst Speer was in Spandau) who knew Speer well enough to know that he himself was not as clean as he made himself out to be. This hypocrisy, which defined Speer's character throughout his life, was transparent to most who were in the know during the Third Reich, and understandably they were not pleased.
Whilst this resentment as I have already mentioned does not come out of any particularity loyalty to Hitler the megalomaniac and ruthless dictator , it most definitely came out of a certain amount of both loyalty and respect for Hitler the brilliant and assertive political leader (something Speer was even guilty of after Nuremberg), which is how those in the inner circles chose to remember him as.
(Sources; Speer: The Final Verdict by Joachim Fest (1999) )
I have kind of a follow-up question. I watched the movie "Im Labyrinth des Schweigens" a couple of days ago. For those who haven't seen it, in the movie you have most people in 1958 Germany either not knowing about or pretty actively denying Nazi crimes (even major things like the mere existence of places like Auschwitz seems to be unknown to big parts of the population), until the hero of the movie and the Auschwitz trials of the 60s come along. As someone who grew up in Germany in the 80s/90s, this surprised me a lot.
So, similarly to the OP, my question is whether or not it's true that a majority of Germans in the late 50s/early 60s were still unaware of or even actively denying Nazi crimes. And if so, when did that start to change?
Not an answer but the only other man to hold the title of Fuhrer Karl Donetz, had a very well attended funeral. I'm curious at what level was defended individuals involved in the third reich accepted?