page_title: Berlin Sportpalast
section_title: Postwar years
hierarchical_section_title: Berlin Sportpalast / Postwar years
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Gedenktafel, Sportpalast, Potsdamer Straße 172, Berlin-Schöneberg, Deutschland English: Memorial plaque, Sportpalast, Potsdamer Straße 172, Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany Koordinate:52°29′42″N 13°21′39″E&#xfeff; / &#xfeff;52.495°N 13.36083°E
context_page_description: 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 the Third Reich, particularly Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels's 1943 "Total War" speech.
context_section_description: At war's end in 1945, the Sportpalast was in badly damaged condition with its roof destroyed. The building did not reopen for public ice sports until 1951, but these events were not popular because the rink was open to the elements and thus too cold for spectators to enjoy. A new roof was constructed later, with the building reopening in 1953. Among the notables who performed at the Sportpalast in its postwar years was world-famous figure skater Sonja Henie.
  In the early 1950s, banker Heinz Henschel attempted to revive the Sportpalast, which he previously played in as a member of the Berliner Schlittschuhclub.
  With the division of the city between East and West in the Cold War, the Sportpalast was situated in West Berlin. Although it was no longer the city's preeminent meeting hall, the Sportpalast in the postwar years hosted varied sorts of events, including rock concerts. Artists such as Bill Haley, Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, The Nice, and The Mothers of Invention performed at the Sportpalast during the building's final decades.
  By the 1970s, the operation of the hall was no longer profitable; the Sportpalast closed in 1973 and was torn down and replaced by a high-rise apartment complex, dubbed the "Sozialpalast" (de) – "the social housing palace".
caption: Historical marker, Berlin-Schöneberg
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