In 2017 he wrote a biographical study of Albert Speer which won the 2017 NDR Culture Award for Non-fiction [de].
Since 2012 Brechtken has been deputy director of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich and teaches as an adjunct professor at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität.
[1] In 2017 Brechtken published a biographical study of Albert Speer that received a positive reception from critics and reached No.
[2] Sven Felix Kellerhoff, reviewing the book in Die Welt, said it was now impossible to spread the myth that Speer was the "good Nazi".
[3] Robert Probst said in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that Brechtken had produced a comprehensive account of Speer and praised the depth and rigour of the work.