When Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party controlled the country , it was transformed into a dictatorship , with Nazi Germany being the common English name for the German state from 1933 to 1945. Under Hitler , Germany became a dictatorial state, with almost all aspects of life controlled by the government . Nazi Germany is known as the Third Reich (Dretis Reich), meaning "Third Kingdom" or "Third Empire" , indicating the Nazis' notion that Nazi Germany belonged to the former Holy Roman ( 800-1806) and German ( 1871–1918) empires. After the Allies defeated Germany in May 1945, Nazi rule came to an end and World War II ended in Europe.