Do you want a total war?

Gott · Post by **Gott** » 12 Aug 2002 22:21

hi,

after the 6th army surrendered goebbels made a very powerful speech to the people in the reich. this speech was said to have motivated the people's morale against allied bombers and invading russians. so does anyone have the text of the speech, I would like to read it. thanks for the help!

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 12 Aug 2002 23:30

Here it is:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb36.htm

David C. Clarke · Post by **David C. Clarke** » 12 Aug 2002 23:48

Hi Benoit, a highly interesting site, thanks for the link. Isn't it incredible how much the speech depended on anti-semitism to motivate the crowd and to justify future actions? It's incredible. I'll bet that speech made absolutely no sense to the British and Americans. Best Regards, David

Gott · Post by **Gott** » 13 Aug 2002 01:21

thanks for the great link!

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 13 Aug 2002 01:24

Hi David,

This site is one of my favorite on the web.

Goebbels was a very good oral speaker and better than Hitler i think and he was doing his job pretty good. His speech about Total War after the defeat at Stalingrad his probably his best one even if i don't agree with what he said about the Jews and Bolshevism, he had a great impact on the crowd that day.

I am sure that speech made no sence to the western Allies and it was probably a shock for them. I don't know about Goebbels if he believe what he was saying? but for a lot of high ranking German officers, they were conviced that the war was lost for Germany after the defeat at Stalingrad.

Best Regards

David C. Clarke · Post by **David C. Clarke** » 13 Aug 2002 01:38

Hi Benoit, I don't doubt it was an effective speech and you're right that, from what I read, the whole country went into a kind of shock over Stalingrad and its effects were really bad on the Army. I just thought it was amazing that at an hour of national crisis, Goebbels would trot out the straw horse of the Jewish domination. I think a lot of times we guys who concentrate on military events underestimate the feelings of the populace or what the people of a country actually think they're fighting against.

On another level, if Germans believed what Goebbels said (and he kept saying it over and over) then what German in his right mind would care about the destruction of the Jews? Best Regards, David

Geli · Post by **Geli** » 21 Aug 2002 04:56

I think the structure of the speech is quite brilliant: Sentimentality, honesty, sacrifice, pride....How he let his audience know that this was their chance to be heard by the enemy, then posed his questions... Absolutely brilliant.

I read all 16 pages of the speech right after watching Schindler's List. The movie naturally had me in that "How-could-people-have-let-this-happen?" mood. But by page 16 of the speech, I was wishing I had been in that Sportsplast yelling, "JAAAA!"

And I know better. They didn't.
When Dr. G got something right...

GFM2000 · Post by **GFM2000** » 21 Aug 2002 05:19

That's probably one of the most memorable speeches in Third Reich history, especially towards the end of the war. Goebbels supposedly claimed that "If I had told them to jump of the top of the roof that night, they would,". Judging by the newsreel I have seen, I think he's made a very good point there. He had certainly aroused his audience that night.

One other interesting point came across to me in that speech, and that was his strange attempt to cover-up the Holocaust in the East. Even though he had (like other Third Reich leaders) continue to sprout hatred against the Jewish people, Goebbels, like Himmler in Posen, could not bring himself to openly tell them about the "extermination of the Jews".

Dr Goebbels, 1943, at the Berliner Sportpalast wrote: " This explains, by the way, our consistent Jewish policies, even if today in Berlin the Jews have sent forward their old pity-guards. [bravo, heckling "hang them!"] We see Jewry as a direct threat to every nation. booing, shouts "hang them!", weak applause] We do not care what other people do about the danger. But we do not tolerate any objection to what we do about the danger. [bravo, loud applause, heckling] Jewry is a heckling], Jewry is a contagious infection. Enemy nations may raise hypocritical protests against our measures against Jewry and cry crocodile tears, but that will not stop us from doing that which is necessary. Germany, in any event, has no intention of bowing before this threat, rather it intends to oppose the threat by completely and radically wiping out- [corrects himself] dealing with Jewry! [loud applause, agitated shouts "hang the Jews!", laughter, ca. 30 seconds]"

Source : http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb36a.htm

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 21 Aug 2002 05:43

Here's an audio snippet of the Goebbels speech...

CLICK!

Leibstandarte · Post by **Leibstandarte** » 21 Aug 2002 08:06

Many thanks for posting the link for the speech and the link for the audio. Really very very powerful...one is caught up in the urgency and the emotion of the words and the feelings......

Leibstandarte

Gott · Post by **Gott** » 21 Aug 2002 09:18

is that really goebbels's voice?? i thought his voice was really high, like this in here,

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/video/vo ... /index.ram

Geli · Post by **Geli** » 22 Aug 2002 00:47

Anyone know if there's a video of the "Total War" speech with English subtitles?

Helly Angel · Post by **Helly Angel** » 22 Aug 2002 04:53

In http://www.hammerwar.com you can buy the Speech in CD (just sound not video).
I think complete... I´m not sure but the edition is good like the others materials in Hammer.

Where can I get the speech complete?

You write 16 pages!

Thanks,

Dan · Post by **Dan** » 22 Aug 2002 12:19

Hola Helly, yo pensaba que su computer le murio.

Helly Angel · Post by **Helly Angel** » 23 Aug 2002 02:57

Hello Dan,

Yes, I can save my PC!! and I´m on vacation now!!

happy to read you!!!

Saludos amigo!

Axis History Forum

Do you want a total war?

Do you want a total war?

Hi Benoit

Hi Benoit

Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?

Geli

Hola Dan