page_title: Nazi Germany
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Nazi Germany / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Adolf Hitler. Deutsch: Zentralbild Adolf Hitler geb.: 20.4.1889 in Braunau am Inn, gest.: Selbstmord 30.4.1945 in Berlin; Vorsitzender der NSDAP; ab 30.1.1933 Reichskanzler, ab 12.8.1934 Führer und Reichskanzler; seit dem 4.2.1938 Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht und ab 19.12.1941 Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres. Er ist hauptverantwortlich für die Ermordung von Millionen Menschen, bereitete den II. Weltkrieg vor und löste ihn aus. Der Verantwortung entzog er sich durch Selbstmord.
context_page_description: Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich until 1943 and Greater German Reich in 1943–45, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country which they transformed into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich – meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire" – alluded to the Nazis' conceit that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire and German Empire. The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe.
  On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, the head of government, by the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, the head of State. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934 and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the offices and powers of the Chancellery and Presidency.
caption: Adolf Hitler became Germany's head of state, with the title of Führer und Reichskanzler, in 1934.
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