On Sunday, 9 November 2025 at the Polish and Cultural Association building (POSK) in Hammersmith, Dr Simon Selby, Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland, will be presenting POSK with a life size reconstruction model of the wartime German Enigma machine, whose secret military messages were transcribed in seemingly indecipherable codes, first broken by Polish cryptographers.

The methods used by the Polish code breakers were later imitated and developed by British cryptographers like Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, saved countless lives of Allied soldiers and were reputed to have shortened the Second World War by at least 2 years.

The process will be described at the presentation ceremony by Dr Simon Selby and by Dr Andrzej Suchcitz, retired chief archivist at the Sikorski Institute and Polish Museum in London.

„The purpose of this donation (and the earlier one at the Embassy) is to raise awareness of the huge Polish contribution that led to the ultimate cracking of the German Enigma code. Moreover, it’s important to remember that this was all achieved under the most dangerous and difficult of circumstances……As cracking the code resulted in the war being shortened by an estimated two years, and saving innumerable lives, those who made it possible should be fully acknowledged,” said Dr Simon Selby.

The model will be on display at the POSK entrance hall for an indeterminate period.  It will be placed in a specially constructed display cabinet and will be accompanied by clear signage giving the history of the Enigma code breaking project in both Polish and English.

British Poles is a media patron of the event.

WHERE: Polish Social and Cultural Association POSK, Entrance Hall, 238-246 King Street, London W6 0RF

WHEN: Sunday, 9 November 2025, 2.00pm

TICKETS: free entry