Editing Nero Decree (section)

==Actions==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146II-277, Albert Speer.jpg|thumb|245x245px|[[Albert Speer]], [[Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production|Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production]], was tasked with carrying out the order but refused, seeing it as a senseless act of destruction.]]
The decree was in vain. The responsibility for carrying it out fell to [[Albert Speer]], Hitler's [[Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production|Minister of Armaments and War Production]]. According to him, Speer was appalled by the order and lost faith in the ''Führer''. Speer deliberately failed to carry out the order. Upon receiving it, he requested to be given exclusive power to implement the plan, instead using his power to convince the generals and ''[[Gauleiter|Gauleiters]]'' to ignore the order. Hitler apparently remained unaware of this until the very end of the war. Speer would later claim that during his last ever meeting with Hitler on 22 April in the Berlin [[Führerbunker]], he admitted to having deliberately disobeyed his instructions.<ref>Hamsher (Wiliam), Albert Speer / Victim of Nuremberg ?, Londres, Frewin, 1970; Schmidt (Matthias), Albert Speer / Das Ende eines Mythos, Munich, Scherz, 1982</ref> Hitler was allegedly angry with Speer, but allowed him to leave nonetheless. However, Speer's recollection has been disputed by some historians, with [[Richard J. Evans]] describing it as "pure invention."<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |author-link=Richard J. Evans |date=1997 |title=Rereading German History: From Unification to Reunification 1800-1996 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |page=202 |isbn=978-0-41-515899-2}}</ref> [[Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945]], forty-two days after issuing the order. Shortly afterwards, on 7 May 1945, General [[Alfred Jodl]] signed the [[German Instrument of Surrender|German military surrender]], and on 23 May Speer was arrested on the orders of U.S. General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], together with the rest of the [[Flensburg Government|provisional German government]] led by Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]], Hitler's successor as head of state.