Cracking the Enigma Code

Enigma Exposed

The story of how three students from Poznań helped the Allies crack the German Enigma Code during WWII.

The vital role played by Polish exiles during the Battle of Britain, who represented one in eight Allied pilots and whose 303 Squadron boasted the best hit rate against the Luftwaffe, is today fairly common knowledge in the UK. As is the role Polish forces played in breaking the siege of Monte Cassino, and the daring raid on Dieppe in 1942. A lesser known Polish contribution towards the Allied victory in 1945, but equally significant, is the battle that took place inside the minds of Poland’s finest academics to crack the German Enigma code.

It all began in Poznań, namely in the mathematics class of the university. Ace students Jerzy Różycki, Marian Rejewski and Henryk Zygalski came to the attention of Polish intelligence services on account of their excellent German skills - Poznan used to be German, after all - and sharp mathematical minds. Recruited to attend cryptology courses in Warsaw alongside 17 other Poznań University alumni, the three were set to work in 1932 on cracking German ciphers. It was in the city’s Saxon Palace, which served as the seat of the Polish General Staff, they made the first vital Enigma breakthrough using a mathematical theorem since described as ‘the theorem that won 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 unoccupied south. With the risk of discovery by the Germans growing greater the team were forced to flee. Różycki drowned at sea in 1942 after the boat that carried him sank under suspicious circumstances; 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 remaining pair were arrested by Spanish police and imprisoned, but freed the following year after intervention by the Red Cross. Seeking sanctuary in England they were employed in Boxmoor cracking 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 Bletchley 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 published his life story in 1973 he became an unwitting superstar, and his work was finally recognised with a series of honours. He died in 1980, buried in Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery. Zygalski chose to remain in England and spent the postwar years working as a math teacher. He died in 1978 and is buried in London. Although the trio have since received numerous posthumous awards, their role in winning the war remains a little-known fact in the West, a cause not helped by silver screen rubbish like the 2001 movie Enigma.

In recent years, recognition for the Polish codebreakers has come, even if sometimes it’s only a passing remark such as Alan Turing’s about an ‘old Polish code’ in The Imitation Game (2014). Since 1983 a memorial tablet at Poznań University’s Collegium Maius has been in place honouring the three lads, and in 2007 a monument placed in front of the Imperial Castle (p.23) followed suit. 2021 was the year when the city finally unveiled a stateof-the-art interactive museum dedicated to their achievement - the Enigma Cipher Centre, which we highly recommend visiting.

Enigma Cryptologist Monument

Designed by Grażyna Bielska–Kozakiewicz and Mariusz Kozakiewicz, this triangular prism with sequences of numbers commemorates the power trio of Różycki, Rejewski, and Zygalski. The monument was unveiled in 2007 and stands right in front of Poznań’s Imperial Castle, which was a university building in the pre-war years. Just next door is the sparkling new Enigma Cipher Centre.QF‑7, ul. Św. Marcin 80/82 (main entrance to the Imperial Castle). The Enigma Cipher Centre NEW

With such a significant claim to fame, it’s a surprise that it took Poznań until 2021 to open a museum dedicated to its three enigmatic cryptologists. It was worth the wait, though. This modern, interactive gem of a museum is a dive into the history of cryptology in general as well as the story of the Enigma specifically. Targeted more towards visitors with a keen interest in math and puzzles, the centre is filled with stations where they can try their hand at encoding and decoding messages using various ciphers, from slide rules to the hybrid Polybius Playfair cipher to onetime pads. If that’s not your cup of tea, no matter - the nicely prepared audioguide will lead you through the exhibits with minimal interruptions. Allow at least two hours if you want to listen through its entirety and check out some additional info on touchscreens. The exhibition finishes with a small section on the postwar IT revolution, which includes two Commodore 64 emulators with a selection of classic video games, which you can play to your heart’s content. Geeks unite! QF‑7, ul. Święty Marcin 78, tel. (+48) 61 888 45 12, www.csenigma.pl/en. Open 09:00‑18:00; Sat, Sun 10:00‑ 19:00; closed Mon. Admission 20/15zł, family ticket 40zł. U