Chicago Tribune publishes Paulina Kapuscinska\'s letter about Poland’s Enigma Machine decryption

The letter was published on Tuesday, December 3, 2013 in the Letters to the Editor section. Below we present Consul Kapuscinska’s original letter.

December 3, 2013
Dear Chicago Tribune Editor,

Thank you for your interesting article about the late Mavis Batey who helped to break the codes of the German Enigma machine in WWII (“Mavis Batey dies at 92; renowned code-breaker for Britain in WWII,” Obituary, Nov. 23).

I was saddened to read the news of her death and I offer her family and friends my sincere condolences. She was one of Bletchley Park’s brightest minds and a great hero of WWII.

It is also well known that Bletchley Park’s success largely followed from the fact that the German Enigma codes were first broken in 1932 by the Polish military intelligence cryptologists: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski, whose role, however, is not mentioned in the text.

Their breakthrough made further work on decrypting ciphers possible. In Warsaw, just before the outbreak of WWII, the Polish military intelligence introduced French and British agents to their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment. The Polish success enabled Britain to successfully continue the decryption efforts and substantially aided the Allies in their military operations.

Without these techniques and technology, Bletchley Park’s work on the decryption would not have been possible. The decryption was based on the methods and instruments invented and developed by the Polish military intelligence.

These historical facts are a wonderful example of a major Allied success that should never be forgotten or passed over for a number of reasons, not least for the sake of respect for all the heroes and their great contributions to victory in WWII.

Paulina Kapuscinska
Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago

View the letter published today in Chicago Tribune >>>