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Polish state honour for UK author of book on Enigma

06.07.2020 17:00
British author Dermot Turing has been honoured with a Polish state decoration for his new book in which he sheds light on the role of Polish mathematicians in breaking the code of Nazi German Enigma cipher machines.
Sir Dermot Turing.
Sir Dermot Turing.Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

The honour, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, was presented to the British author by the Polish ambassador to the United Kingdom, Arkady Rzegocki, during a ceremony in London on Sunday.

Turing was awarded the distinction “for spreading […] knowledge about the vital role of Polish cryptologists in breaking the Enigma code,” the Polish ambassador said in a tweet.

The author of the book, which is entitled X, Y & Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Brokenis the nephew of cryptologist Alan Turing who, British war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, shortened WWII by two years by breaking the infamous Nazi German cyphers.

Poles Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różycki worked in the 1930s to crack the Enigma code, which was employed by Nazi Germany to encrypt military communications.

The research conducted by the Poles was handed over to the UK at the start of World War II, in 1939, and was used by British cryptologists at Bletchley Park as part of their own work on the Enigma code.

Cracking the code contributed to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. But the role of the Poles in breaking the code was little known for almost three decades following the war.

(jh/pk/di)

Source: PAP