Führer of the Greater German Reich

"Führer" was the title granted by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to himself by law in 1934. The new position, fully named Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor of the (Third) Reich"), unified the offices of President and Chancellor, formally making Hitler Germany's Head of State as well as Head of Government respectively; in practice, the Dictator of the Nazi German Reich.

For military matters, Hitler used the style Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht ("Leader and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht"), until that addition was dropped by decree of the Führer. The style of the Head of State for use in foreign affairs was Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and National Chancellor") until it was changed to Führer des Grossdeutschen Reichs ("Leader of the Greater German Nation").

The title fell into disuse immediately upon Hitler's death in 1945.

Literary Comment
Harry Turtledove has depicted the continued use of the title Führer in several timelines. In Worldwar, Hitler's successors used the title Führer und Reichskanzler. In In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Hitler's successors used the title Führer des Grossdeutschen Reichs or simply, Führer, implying that the office of chancellor had gone defunct.

In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Between 1934 and 2011, the Reich saw four Führers. Otto von Bismarck was given honorary status posthumously.


 * *In 2011, the reform-minded Heinz Buckliger was temporarily overthrown during a Putsch launched by Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann. Odilo Globocnik held the position of Acting Führer for about 24 hours until the Putsch was defeated and Buckliger was reinstalled.

Worldwar
Between 1934 and 1966, four men are known to have held the office of Führer and Chancellor of Germany. Heinrich Himmler died unexpectedly in 1964, while in the midst of planning an attack of Race-controlled Poland. After a brief regency by the Committee of Eight, his successor Ernst Kaltenbrunner initiated Himmler's plan leading to a brief and catastrophic war in 1965, which saw the death of Kaltenbrunner, and the ascension of the moderate Walter Dornberger, essentially the last senior official still alive.

Other Führers
Adolf Hitler is or was the Führer of the Greater German Reich in the vast majority of Harry Turtledove works involving the Nazis, including After the Downfall, "Cayos in the Stream", "The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging", Joe Steele (both novel and short story), "The Last Article", The Man With the Iron Heart, "News From the Front", "The Phantom Tolbukhin", and presumably in "In This Season". He is probably the Führer in "Must and Shall" as well, although there is room for debate, given that novella's unusual POD. His role in these stories is usually limited to references. Hitler is also the only Führer identified by name in "Shtetl Days". As he is referred to as the "First Führer", he implicitly had successors in that office, but none are named.

In The War That Came Early series, Hitler is the only Führer of Germany. He is assassinated in a military coup in April 1944, and his successor, Heinz Guderian, abolishes the Nazi Party and its titles.

In "Ready for the Fatherland", Erich von Manstein took control of Germany after killing Hitler in 1943, and was still in power in 1953. Whatever title he used as German leader is not revealed, nor is the identity of his successor.