Sportpalast speech — Speech by Joseph Goebbels announcing a policy of total war
Goebbels's 18 February 1943 speech was the first public Nazi admission that Germany faced grave danger, and it called on Germans to commit to total war.
Key Facts
- Date
- 18 February 1943
- Venue
- Berlin Sportpalast
- Speaker
- Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda
- Context
- Delivered after the tide of WWII turned against Germany
- Notable linguistic slip
- Goebbels began saying 'Ausrotten' before switching to 'Ausschaltung'
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
By early 1943 Nazi Germany and its Axis allies were suffering serious military reversals, most notably at Stalingrad. The regime recognized that public morale was faltering and that the war would require far greater sacrifice. The Nazi leadership felt compelled to acknowledge the gravity of the situation while simultaneously galvanizing the population for a prolonged, intensified conflict.
On 18 February 1943, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels addressed a large, carefully selected audience at the Berlin Sportpalast, delivering what became known as the Sportpalast or Total War speech. He declared that Germany and Europe faced an existential threat from Bolshevism and urged the German people to commit fully to total war, framing continued sacrifice as the only path to survival.
The speech marked the first public concession by Nazi leadership that Germany faced severe dangers, shifting official rhetoric from confident victory to urgent survival. It became the most famous of Goebbels's speeches and a landmark example of wartime propaganda. Historians have also scrutinized the moment Goebbels nearly uttered 'Ausrotten,' linking it to Nazi discourse on the Final Solution.