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"Drittes Reich" redirects here. For the 1923 book, see Das Dritte Reich.
German Reich
Deutsches Reich[a]
1933–1945
Flag
Flag
Emblem
Emblem
Anthem
Das Lied der Deutschen
Song of the Germans
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Horst-Wessel-Lied
Horst Wessel Song
Germany at the height of World War II
success (late 1942)
Germany proper[a]
Civil occupied territories
Military-administered occupied territories
Administrative divisions of Germany, January 1944
Capital Berlin
Languages German
Government
Nazi one-party totalitarian dictatorship
President / Führer
• 1933–1934 Paul von Hindenburg
• 1934–1945 Adolf Hitler[b]
• 1945 Karl Dönitz
Chancellor
• 1933–1945 Adolf Hitler
• 1945 Joseph Goebbels
• 1945 (as leading minister) Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
Legislature Reichstag[b]
• State council Reichsrat (abolished 1934)
Historical era Interwar period/World War II
• Machtergreifung 30 January 1933
• Gleichschaltung 27 February 1933
• Anschluss 12 March 1938
• World War II 1 September 1939
• Death of Adolf Hitler 30 April 1945
• Surrender of Germany 8 May 1945
• Final dissolution 23 May 1945
Area
• 1939 [c] 633,786 km2 (244,706 sq mi)
Population
• 1939 (Germany & Austria) est.[d] 79,375,281
Currency Reichsmark (ℛℳ)
Preceded by Succeeded by
Weimar Republic
Saar Basin
Austria
Czechoslovakia
Lithuania
Poland
Danzig
Yugoslavia
France
Luxembourg
Occupied Germany
Occupied Austria
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Yugoslavia
France
Luxembourg
Soviet Union
a. ^ Officially "Großdeutsches Reich" ("Greater German Reich"), 1943–1945.
b. ^ Officially "Großdeutscher Reichstag" ("Diet of the Greater German Reich"), 1938–1945.
Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Under Hitler's rule, Germany was transformed into a totalitarian state in which the Nazi Party controlled nearly all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich ("Greater German Reich") from 1943 to 1945. The period is also known under the names the Third Reich (German: Drittes Reich) and the National Socialist Period (German: Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, abbreviated as NS-Zeit). The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, ending World War II in Europe.