Redhill And Reigate Referrals

Redhill And Reigate Referrals

Redhill And Reigate Referrals

31 January 2025 at 07:00

Reigate Manor

The beginning of world hell

Today in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.  His former WWI colleague General Erich Ludendorff sent him a letter stating, “This accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery"

The year 1932 had seen Hitler’s meteoric rise to prominence in Germany, spurred largely by the German people’s frustration with dismal economic conditions and the still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty.  A charismatic speaker, Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for his fledgling Nazi party.  In an election held in July 1932, the Nazis won 230 governmental seats; together with the Communists, the next largest party, they made up over half of the Reichstag.

Hindenburg, intimidated by Hitler’s growing popularity and the thuggish nature of his cadre of supporters, the SA (or Brownshirts), initially refused to make him chancellor.  Instead, he appointed General Kurt von Schleicher, who attempted to steal Hitler’s thunder by negotiating with a dissident Nazi faction led by Gregor Strasser.  At the next round of elections in November, the Nazis lost ground—but the Communists gained it, a paradoxical effect of Schleicher’s efforts that made right-wing forces in Germany even more determined to get Hitler into power.  In a series of complicated negotiations, ex-Chancellor Franz von Papen, backed by prominent German businessmen and the conservative German National People’s Party (DNVP), convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor, with the understanding that von Papen as vice-chancellor and other non-Nazis in key government positions would contain and temper Hitler’s more brutal tendencies.

Hitler’s emergence as chancellor  marked a crucial turning point for Germany and, ultimately, for the world.  His plan, embraced by much of the German population, was to do away with politics and make Germany a powerful, unified one-party state.  He began immediately, ordering a rapid expansion of the state police, the Gestapo and putting Hermann Goering in charge of a new security force, composed entirely of Nazis and dedicated to stamping out whatever opposition to his party might arise.  From that moment on, Nazi Germany was off and running, and there was little Hindenburg or von Papen - or anyone - could do to stop it.

Today we enjoyed a stimulating and informative session from Russ McKenzie on how IT security is vital for all businesses.
Russ will be back in a few sessions' time to explain the powerful of AI and especially Co-Pilot.

Jovan would be very grateful if you could click on this link to his latest post and REPOST.
If you want to say a few nice words, that will be welcomed, but the more REPOSTS there are, the more traction it will get.

Book in now for our next meeting on Valentine's Day, 14 February

Top Tip

Communicate in the way people remember things

Download Notes:

Speakers

Russ McKenzie, nTrust Systems ltd

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