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Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, presentation description and to access recordings.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at .
For most Allied codebreakers involved in breaking the Enigma codes during World War II, participation in this adventure was equivalent to a life insurance policy - they could not find themselves in a situation where they would be at risk of death or captivity. However, there was an important exception to this rule - a group of Polish codebreakers - the original authors of this cryptologic breakthrough. Several times during the war all of them found themselves in a life-threatening situation. A few landed in captivity, several others paid with their lives for protecting the secret. It is thus not surprising that almost no material evidence of their work and successes was preserved until today. However, there is one important exception to this rule - a unique copy of the cipher machine, currently at the Józef Piłsudski Institute in London. As far as we know, it represents the only material witness to the work of Polish cryptologists - the only element of their workshop that has survived to our time. This presentation explores the story of its complicated history.
January 9, 2021
Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, as well as the presentation date and description. Presentation recordings are available separately, in the ICCH Portal.
To view upcoming ICCH presentations, click here.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at info@cryptologichistory.org.
For most Allied codebreakers involved in breaking the Enigma codes during World War II, participation in this adventure was equivalent to a life insurance policy - they could not find themselves in a situation where they would be at risk of death or captivity. However, there was an important exception to this rule - a group of Polish codebreakers - the original authors of this cryptologic breakthrough. Several times during the war all of them found themselves in a life-threatening situation. A few landed in captivity, several others paid with their lives for protecting the secret. It is thus not surprising that almost no material evidence of their work and successes was preserved until today. However, there is one important exception to this rule - a unique copy of the cipher machine, currently at the Józef Piłsudski Institute in London. As far as we know, it represents the only material witness to the work of Polish cryptologists - the only element of their workshop that has survived to our time. This presentation explores the story of its complicated history.
January 9, 2021
