JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CRACK OF GERMAN ENIGMA CODE

By 1934 the Poles were able to reproduce 15 Enigmas, at the AVA Radio Manufacturing Company
at 34 Nowy Swiat Street in Warszawa, its engineer, the brilliant Antoni Palluth.

Tuesday, Nissan 4, 5775 - March 24, 2015.

Shalom! World.

ENIGMA

A lesser known Polish contribution towards the Allied victory in 1945, is the battle that took place inside the minds of Poland's finest academics to crack the German Enigma code.

HENRYK ZGALSKI

MARIAN REJEWSKI

JERZY RÓZYCK

It all began in Poznan, namely in the mathematics class of the university. Ace students Jerzy Rózyck, Marian Rejewski and Henryk Zgalski came to the attention of Polish intelligence services on account of their excellent German skills and sharp mathematical minds. Recruited to attend cryptology courses in Warszawa alogside 117 other Poznan University alumni, the three were set to work  in 1932 on cracking German ciphers. It was here they made the first vital Enigma breakthrough using mathematical theorem since described as 'the theorem that won the WWII'. 

On the day before the Nazi invasion of Poland the three fled to Romania where they immediately sought contact with the Allies. Originally they turned up at the British Embassy in Bucharest, but having been told to 'come back in a few days' decided to try their luck with the French instead. This proved more successful and from there they found themselves in France, working in Cadix, a secret intelligence cell operating in the unccupied south. With the risk of discovery by the Germans growing greater the team were forced to flee. Rozycki drownned at sea in 1942 after the boat  that carried himm sank under suspicious circunstances; Zygalski and Rejewski however made it to Spain, in spite of being robbed by the man guiding them over the Pyrenees.  

More calamity followed: the apir were arrested by Spanish police and imprisoned, but freed the following year after intervention b the Red Cross. Seeking sanctuary in England they were employed in Boxmoor  craking simple SS codes. In spite of having done the groundwork that broke the original Enigma code their knowledge was not called on by the American and British codebreakers who were cracking new and improved Enigma codes at Bletchely Park, hence the vital Polish contribution has been allowed to fade in the memory. 

After the war Rejewski returned to Poland where he spent the rest of his  days under scrutiny from internal security services, and working in a succession of menial jobs. When he publish his life story in 1973 he became an unwitting superstar, and his work  was finally reconnised with a series of honours. He died in 1980, buried in Warszawa's Powazki Cemetery. Zygalski chose to remain in England and spent the post-war years working as a math teacher. He died in 1978 and is buried  in London. Although the trio role in winning the war remains a little-known fact in the West, a cause not helped  by silver sreen rubbish like the 2001 movie Enigma.

NOWY SWIAT STREET, WARSZAWA/POLAND

Shalom! Aleichem.

Suporte cultural:  SOUL avec L'Integration d'Association avec Israel et dans le Monde/Fr .