Marian Rejewski was a key Polish cryptologist who helped break the German Enigma code. Although he put years of work into the final result, Rejewski and other Poles remain in the shade of Alan Turing who was able to use their accomplishment and finally decode the Enigma used by Wehrmacht. 

Marian Rejewski was born on 16 August 1905 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. His military intelligence career started in 1929 during his mathematics studies at the University of Poznań, Professor Zdzisław Krygowski sent Rejewski to a secret cryptology course organised by the Cipher Bureau of the Second Division of the General Staff of the Polish Army.

In September 1932, Rejewski began working on the Enigma and within weeks, discovered how to wire the rotors of the German cipher machine. Then, with his colleagues Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, he developed techniques to enable the regular reading of cyphers from Enigma. Rejewski’s contribution to breaking the Enigma code was the development and design of the so-called cryptologic bomb.

After the German invasion of Poland on 1 September civilian and military employees of the Bureau and other structures of military intelligence were evacuated to Romania. The French Army airlifted the Polish cryptologists to Paris. A French-Polish cryptologic team was formed at the Château de Vignolles in Aquitaine, which again succeeded in breaking Enigma at the turn of 1939 and 1940.

After the fall of France in 1940, a branch of the cryptology centre was established in Algiers, in French North Africa. Rejewski’s close colleague, Jerzy Różycki died while trying to reach Algiers, in January 1942.

Because of the persecution and search from the German intelligence, Marian Rejewski and Henryk Zygalski left France and headed into Francoist Spain. While crossing the Pyrenees, in January 1943, they were captured by Spanish police and arrested. Only after their release In August of that year, they finally reached Britain. Until the end of the war, they worked in the radio unit of the Supreme Commander’s Staff of the Polish Armed Forces at  Stanmore-Boxmoor near London.

In November 1946, Rejewski returned to communist Poland. He settled in his hometown Bydgoszcz, where he worked in local factories. For many years, the role he played in breaking the Enigma code was unknown. It was revealed publicly only thanks to the memoirs he wrote after his retirement in 1967. The memoirs are a part of the collection of the Polish Military Archives. 

Rejewski died on 13 February 1980 in Warsaw. He was buried with military assistance at the Powązki Military Cemetery.

The story of Marian Rejewski and his colleagues remains forgotten in the West because of famous depictions of Alan Turing’s works. It is important to remember that the famous British cryptologist could only achieve his final goals thanks to the previous work of the three Polish mathematicians. 

Photo: Bletchley Park

Source: IPN, przystanekhistoria.pl

Tomasz Modrzejewski