Setting and Audience
The setting of the speech in the Sportpalast placed the audience behind and under a big banner with 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.
Read more about this topic: Sportpalast Speech
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