Andrzej Dabrowa, Ph.D.
17. Epilogue
M.Rejewski returned to Poznan in Poland in November 1947 after eight years of absence. His health was poor due to the gruelling pace of work in Bruno and Cadix and the continuous threat of being discovered and imprisoned by the Germans as well as by cruel conditions and treatment in the Spanish prison. He returned to a Poland run by Stalin's communists, which made adjustment to the new regime very difficult. All those returning from England were considered to be "infected by the corrupt capitalistic ideas" and subjected to harassment by the Communist Government. The ensuing "cold war" made it even more difficult to find employment and support his family. He found employment as an accountant but had to change it several times. His problems were compounded by the sudden death of his 10-year-old son several months after his return. At the beginning of 1967, at the age of 61, he had to retire due to ill health. By then the communist terror had subsided and in retirement he found a new vocation. He joined the Historical Society and started to write articles on mathematics as well as attending mathematical and historical meetings. Poland honoured M. Rejewski for his work on the Enigma code by awarding him the Order of Merit in 1977 and then by the Commanders Cross in 1978. He wrote his memoirs and was elected an honorary member of the Polish Scientific Society. He died on February 13th, 1978 and was buried with full military honours.
H. Zygalski decided to stay in England and share the fate of a Polish political emigrant in a country run by a socialist government sympathetic to communist causes. As the son of well off parents he had received a well-rounded education in languages (French, English and German) and music. Later, at university he studied mathematics. With a good education he was able to find a teaching position at a London college where he taught mathematics. In 1950 he met Berta Blomfield who shared his love of music and, after a brief courtship, they were married. Some years later his health began to fail and he was confined to a wheelchair until his death on the 30th April 1978 and his wife died soon after. He did not have any children and the family tradition is carried on in Poland by his niece Maria Bryschak. For his work on Enigma he was awarded in May 1977 a degree of "Honoris Causa" by a Polish university established in Britain during the war.
J Rozcyki had been seconded from Cadix to the Kouba branch in Algiers to assist in decrypting locally intercepted Vichy radio traffic. On his way back, he drowned on the 9th January 1942 when the ship Lamorcie sank in a storm. After the war his widow worked in industry and became assistant to the Minister of Industrial Affairs. His son, who attended the Academy of Fine Arts and won a silver medal in the 1968 Olympics, is an antiques dealer in London.
Upon his release from a German concentration camp, Colonel Langer arrived in London eager to be debriefed by Polish Intelligence and to rejoin his comrades. The chief of Polish Intelligence, Colonel S Gano, blamed him for not acting decisively in arranging the escape of the Polish Intelligence team from France and refused to see him. In fact, the French were responsible for the safety and transportation of the cryptology unit. Their organisation disintegrated as German troops moved into Vichy France and they were unable to arrange transport to the southern coast where a British naval vessel was waiting. Langer claimed that he did not give away any information and that he and Major Ciezki had managed to convince the Germans that the changes they introduced just before the war had made Enigma unbreakable. To defend his honour, he wrote his memoirs in 1946 but was unable to get them published. He died in 1948, a bitter and broken man. Major Ciezcki did not fare any better and died in Britain in 1951. What an unfair and bitter fate they suffered even though they were instrumental in organising a team that broke the Enigma cipher.
Colonel Bertrand,
who was promoted to general and awarded a high military decoration, retired
from the service in 1950 and entered local politics. He was the first Allied
officer to break the official silence when he published a book on Enigma.
As recently as the 17th July, 2000, M. Rejewski, J. Rozycki and H. Zygalski were together honoured by the Polish Government for their Enigma code work and posthumously awarded the highest Polish decoration. During the ceremony, Polish Premier Jerzy Buzek in his speech stated: "Many consider the breaking of the Enigma code by three outstanding Polish cryptologists to be Poland's single largest contribution to the Allied victory in the second world war. . . . That was undoubtedly the greatest cryptological success in history." He also quoted a statement made by the ex-director of the Polish Section of Radio Free Europe; "The knowledge of enemy's war plans, his strategies and actual intentions, dispositions of armed forces, had a predominant influence upon the course of the war; without the Enigma secret England would not have won the Battle of Britain and Atlantic."
Curiously enough none of the Polish cryptologists were honoured by the Allies
(i.e. France, Britain and the United States of America) even though, in the
words of the Allied Forces Commander-in-Chief Gen. D. D, Eisenhower, " it
has saved thousands of British and American lives".
The Polish contribution to the Allied war effort is still classified after 55 years and is locked in the British Secret Vault. Poznan University, where the first cryptology course was offered, dedicated a plaque honouring their three students and in 1983 the Polish Post Office issued a stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of breaking the Enigma cipher.
In the last three years (1999, 2000 and 2001) Bletchley Park has organized Polish Days. In 1999 they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the handing over to Britain and France of Polish made Enigmas. The events included talks by Enigma historians and demonstration of various equipment.
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On April 21st, 2000 Solidarity Weekly in Warsaw announced the formation of a committee to honour the three Polish cryptologists, M. Rejewski, J. Rozycki and H. Zygalski, collect funds and install commemorative plaques in both London and Warsaw. The committee consisted of many Polish historians and notables both from Poland and England but glaringly lacks those from France and the United States of America. In July 2001 a corner stone was laid for the Commemorative Plaque at Bletchley Park. In the famous words of British Prime Minister Churchill "never in the history of mankind so many owed so much to so few". Surely this statement may also be applied to Polish as well as British cryptographers! Also Gen. D. D. Eisenhower stated " It (Enigma) has saved thousands of British and American lives". Since Enigma decryption saved so many lives, why have the British, French and Americans not made formal recognition of the Polish contribution?
(c) 2003 A R Dabrowa