The First Enigma Codebreaker

Marian Rejewski who passed the baton to Alan Turing

By Robert Gawlowski

Many know the story of the code breakers at Bletchley Park and Alan Turing but far fewer know of the story of the Polish code breakers who's work, was the basis for their activity. The First Enigma Codebreaker is a new hardback book that puts in context the originating work of Polish codebreaker Marian Rejewski.

The capture and unravelling of the Enigma codes is a story that appeals to everyone from the avid historian to Hollywood. So far, much of the attention has focused on the technical and cryptological issues of Enigma, the fate of the Bletchley Park facility and the stories of individuals such as Alan Turing. The First Enigma Codebreaker raises an issue that has never been discussed in greater detail, the story of Marian Rejewski. This biography answers the questions: in what conditions was the "Enigma conqueror" brought up, in what circumstances did he managed to decode the machine, what happened to him during the Second World War and why he never ended up in Bletchley Park, what price he had to pay for his discovery in communist Poland and what he did to make the world know the true history of Enigma.

This is the story of a man who made a revolution in cryptology, about the rivalry between man and machine, about powerful history affecting individual lives, and about the life of Marian Rejewski whose story is still largely unknown. The First Enigma Codebreaker is a tremendous read and of interest to everyone from avid researchers to those who want to just want to see the wider story of Enigma.

Size 162x226mm, 200 Pages, Hardback
ISBN: 9781399069106