The Sportpalast speech or Total War speech was a speech delivered by German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at the Berlin Sportpalast to a large, carefully selected audience on 18 February 1943, as the tide of World War II was turning against Nazi Germany and its Axis allies. The speech is particularly notable as Goebbels almost mentions the Holocaust, when he begins saying "Ausrotten", but quickly changes it to "Ausschaltung". This was the same word Heinrich Himmler used on 18 December 1941, when he recorded the outcome of his discussion with Adolf Hitler on the Final Solution, wherein he wrote "als Partisanen auszurotten".
Nazi rally on 18 February 1943 at the Berlin Sportpalast; the sign says "Totaler Krieg – Kürzester Krieg" ("Total War – Shortest War").
Goebbels, April 1937
Berlin Sportpalast was a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Schöneberg section of Berlin, Germany. Depending on the type of event and seating configuration, the Sportpalast could hold up to 14,000 people and was for a time the biggest meeting hall in Berlin. The Sportpalast is most known for speeches and rallies that took place during Nazi Germany, particularly Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels's 1943 "Total War" speech.
Postcard depiction of new Sportpalast, 1910.
Max Schmeling at Sportpalast, 1928.
Goebbels' Total War speech, early 1943. The banner says "Total war - shortest war."
Historical marker, Berlin-Schöneberg
