WWII codebreaker posthumously honoured by US

Enigma machine

The Knowlton Award of the Military Intelligence Corps Association was received by the cryptographer's daughter, Janina Sylwestrak, in Bydgoszcz, Rejewski's home city.

The decoding of German ciphers played a key role in the Allied victory, and historians have argued that the war was shortened by several years thanks to information gleaned by cryptographers.

“It would not have been possible without the genius, dedication and devotion of Marian Rejewski,” said Colonel Laura Potter, of NATO's Counter-intelligence department, at the ceremony in Bydgoszcz, as cited by the Polish Press Agency.

In July 1939, on the eve of war, the Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau demonstrated to their British and French counterparts how to crack the Nazi communications system. The Poles had been the only ones to penetrate the network, and had been unravelling German codes since 1932.

Three mathematicians, Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski had been instrumental in the Polish operation.

Work on decrypting the ciphers then became focused on Bletchley Park, a manor in central England that was commandeered by British Intelligence for the war effort.

Although Rejewski was not able to take part in work at Bletchley, a memorial endures there paying tribute to the achievements of the Polish cryptographers.

After the war, Rejewski was repeatedly investigated by Poland's now communist security services, but he did not divulge his role in the Enigma operation.

However, in 1967, he began writing his memoirs, to much acclaim. He died in 1980 aged 74. (nh)