ENIGMA, LES DÉCRYPTEURS POLONAIS ET LES SERVICES SECRETS FRANÇAIS, 1932–1945
ENIGMA, THE POLISH CODEBREAKERS AND THE FRENCH SECRET SERVICE, 1932–1945
Author(s): Jean-Charles FoucrierSubject(s): Military history, Security and defense, Evaluation research, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: World War II; Enigma; codebreaking; secret service;
Summary/Abstract: In the early 1930’s, the Polish codebreakers succeeded while all the others failed: they broke the Enigma. Three young and brilliant mathematicians, Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różycki managed to read the German cyphertexts from 1933 to as late as 1939. But this huge success remained a secret for a long time, unknown in France and England. After the fall of Poland in September 1939, the three mathematicians linked their fate with the French secret service and kept breaking the Enigma code. Again, following the French defeat of June 1940, they experienced exile and irremediably sank into oblivion. Today, the story of the Polish codebreakers and the French secret service remains very little known in France, although their work proved decisive in the Allied victory during the Second World War.
Journal: Prace Historyczne
- Issue Year: 146/2019
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 209-217
- Page Count: 9
- Language: French