Modern Mysteries

Did Poles break the Nazi Enigma code?

By T.K. Randall
October 10, 2012 ·  22 comments

Image Credit: CC 3.0 Bob Lord Up until now it had been British code breakers attributed with the distinction of being first to break Enigma, a code used during World War II by the Germans to prevent their communications from falling in to enemy hands. Correspondences were run through a special 'Enigma machine' which looked a bit like a manual typewriter. British cryptologists at Bletchley Park have long been hailed as the first to succeed in breaking this code but now it seems that Polish mathematicians Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski may have got there first.

"In both popular literature and official information the public was told that the breaking of the Enigma codes was due to the work of the British intelligence services to the complete omission of the work of Polish scientists," reads the new resolution.[!gad]Up until now it had been British code breakers attributed with the distinction of being first to break Enigma, a code used during World War II by the Germans to prevent their communications from falling in to enemy hands. Correspondences were run through a special 'Enigma machine' which looked a bit like a manual typewriter. British cryptologists at Bletchley Park have long been hailed as the first to succeed in breaking this code but now it seems that Polish mathematicians Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski may have got there first.

"In both popular literature and official information the public was told that the breaking of the Enigma codes was due to the work of the British intelligence services to the complete omission of the work of Polish scientists," reads the new resolution.

Source: Telegraph | Comments (22)

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