The government of Nazi Germany was a totalitarian dictatorship governed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party according to the Führerprinzip. Nazi Germany was established in January 1933 with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, followed by suspension of basic rights with the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act which gave Hitler's regime the power to pass and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or German president, and de facto ended with Germany's surrender in World War II on 8 May 1945 and de jure ended with the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945.

In the political history of Germany, the Führerprinzip was the basis of executive authority in the Government of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), which meant that the word of the Führer is above all written law, and that government policies, decisions, and offices all work towards the realisation of the will of the Führer. In practise, the Führerprinzip was the dictatorship of the leader to dictate the ideology and policies of a political party; therefore, such a personal dictatorship is a basic characteristic of fascism.