power . Hindenburg died on 2 August 1 934 and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the offices and powers of the Chancellery and Presidency . A national referendum held 1 9 August 1 934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer ( leader ) of Germany . All power was centralised in Hitler ' s person and his word became above all laws . The government was not a coordinated , co-operating body , but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitler ' s favour . In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy . Extensive public works were undertaken , including the construction of Autobahnen ( motorways ). The return to economic stability boosted the regime ' s popularity . Racism , especially antisemitism , was a central feature of the regime . The Germanic peoples ( the Nordic race ) were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race and were therefore viewed as the master race . Millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust . Opposition to Hitler ' s rule was ruthlessly suppressed . Members of the liberal , socialist , and communist opposition were killed , imprisoned , or exiled . Christian churches were oppressed , with many leaders imprisoned . Education focused on racial biology , population policy , and fitness for military service . Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program , and the 1 936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage . Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film , mass rallies , and Hitler ' s hypnotic oratory to influence public opinion . The government controlled artistic expression , promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others . Beginning in the late 1 930s , Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands , threatening war if they were not met . It seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1 938 and 1 939 . Hitler made a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1 939 , launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1 940 and threatened the UK . Reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland . Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned , murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps , or shot . Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1 941 , the tide gradually turned against the Nazis , who suffered major military defeats in 1 943 . Large-scale aerial bombing of