Sportpalast speech The " Sportpalast " speech ( , Sports - Palace speech ) or total war speech was a speech delivered by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at the Berlin Sportpalast to a large but carefully selected audience on 18 February 1943 calling for a total war , as the tide of World War II had turned against Nazi Germany and its Axis allies . It is considered the most famous of Joseph Goebbels ' s speeches . The speech was the first public admission by the Nazi leadership that Germany faced serious dangers . Goebbels exhorted the German people to continue the war even though it would be long and difficult because — as he asserted — both Germany ' s survival and the survival of a non - Bolshevist Europe were at stake . Background . Compared to the previous year , 1943 started inauspiciously , with Germany suffering major military problems on all fronts . On 2 February the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the surrender of Field Marshal Paulus and the German 6th Army to the Soviets . At the Casablanca Conference , Franklin D . Roosevelt and Winston Churchill demanded Germany ' s unconditional surrender , and the Soviets , spurred by their victory , were beginning to retake territory , including Kursk ( 8 February ) , Rostov ( 14 February ) , and Kharkiv ( 16 February ) . In North Africa , the Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was being brought close to defeat , when German supply ships sailing to Tripoli were sunk by the Allies during January . The Western Desert Campaign had ended with British victory and the Axis were in Tunisia between two Allied forces — one advancing from Algeria and one from Libya . The fortunes of Germany ' s Axis allies were turning as well . Italy ' s military collapse had made the war in Africa a largely German operation , and in the Pacific , the Americans had just completed their months - long reconquest of Guadalcanal after their victories against Japanese forces at Midway and the Coral Sea . Adolf Hitler responded with the first measures that would lead to the all - out mobilization of Germany . On 2 February , 100 , 000 restaurants and clubs were closed throughout the country so that the civilian population could contribute more to the war . Setting and audience . The setting of the speech in the Sportpalast placed the audience behind and under a big banner bearing the all - capitals German words " TOTALER KRIEG — KÜRZESTER KRIEG " ( total war — briefest war ) along with Nazi banners and Nazi swastikas . Although Goebbels claimed that the audience included people from " all classes and occupations " ( including " soldiers , doctors , scientists , artists , engineers and architects , teachers , white collars " ) it was evident to outsiders that the propagandist had carefully selected his listeners . After the speech , Goebbels said to Albert Speer that it was the best - trained audience one could find in Germany . Details . Goebbels cited three theses in the speech : Goebbels concluded that " Two thousand years of Western history are in danger , " and blamed Germany ' s failures on the Jews . While Goebbels referred to Soviet mobilization nationwide as " devilish , " he explained that " We cannot overcome the Bolshevist danger unless we use equivalent , though not identical , methods [ in a ] total war . " He then justified the austerity measures enacted , explaining them as temporary measures . Historically , the speech is important in that it marks the first admission by the Party leadership that they were facing problems , and launched the mobilization campaign that , arguably , prolonged the war , under the slogan : " And storm , break loose ! " ( " " ) . Goebbels claimed that no German was thinking of any compromise and instead that " the entire nation is only thinking about a hard war " . Goebbels attempted to counter reports in the Allied press that German civilians had lost faith in victory by asking the audience a number of questions at the end , such as : Do you believe with the Führer and us in the final total victory of the German people ? Are you and the German people willing to work , if the Führer orders , 10 , 12 and if necessary 14 hours a day and to give everything for victory ? Do you want total war ? If necessary , do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today ? The recorded oral version of the speech differed in some ways from the written record . The enthusiastic and unified crowd response recorded in the written version is , at times , less than fully supported by the recording . Especially significant is that in the oral ( vs . written ) record of the speech , Goebbels actually begins to mention the " extermination " of the Jews , rather than the less harsh terms used in the written version to describe the " solution " , but catches himself in the middle of the word . Quotes . The last line originated in the poem " Männer und Buben " ( Men and Boys ) by Carl Theodor Körner during the Napoleonic Wars . Körner ' s words had been quoted by Adolf Hitler in his 1920 speech " What We Want " delivered at Munich ' s Hofbräuhaus , but also by Goebbels himself in older speeches , including his 6 July 1932 campaign speech before the Nazis took power in Germany . Reception . Millions of Germans listened to Goebbels on the radio as he delivered this speech about the " misfortune of the past weeks " and an " unvarnished picture of the situation . " The audience reacted fanatically , causing an even bigger impact ; they were selected by Goebbels to perform appropriately , showing one of his many skills as propaganda minister . Goebbels also wanted , by amassing such popular enthusiasm , to convince Hitler to give him greater powers in running the war economy .