Enigma online

The sea constitutes a symbolic theme in Henryk Zygalski’s biography. It comes up in the cryptologist’s sentimental journey to his family memories from Kołobrzeg in 1917 and Hel in 1930. Thanks to Henryk’s letters and photos we are able to recreate his relationship with the people close to him.

Marynka is an informal name of St Mary Magdalene Gymnasium in Poznań. One of its students was Henryk Zygalski. Was it there that his talent for mathematics was born and cultivated? Or was this talent, which decided about his later success, inborn?

A sense of humour, a tendency to whine and be choosy, but at the same time, a healthy dose of self-mockery were all features of Henryk Zygalski’s character, which stand out when we analyse his photos and their captions from the years after the war.

In this history, the innovative use of a machine against the cipher of another machine, which was the work of the Polish cryptanalysts, is of particular importance.