On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. Once the power over Germany was in their hands, the Nazis did not let go of it: until its demise on May 8, 1945. The Third Reich lasted 12 years, three months and nine days. It began with high hopes and unprecedented jubilation: and ended after a world war with more than 50 million dead, the destruction of Germany and the genocide of European Jews.