Experience the online exhibition here.
Watch Enigma video here.

Tracing the development of modern knowledge-based economy we often forget that roots of many disciplines stick in the trenches of the great wars of the 20th Century.

The exhibition organised by the Wielkopolska Region entitled “Enigma. Decipher Victory” is dedicated to the great achievements of Polish mathematicians in breaking the code of the Enigma machine. The exhibition conjures up one of such stories, which is worth remembering in so far as it contributed to saving millions of lives rather than deepening the madness of mutual destruction.

Composed of 23 boards, the display reveals the history of humble, unknown heroes, Polish cryptographers, their academics and colleagues, whose knowledge and mathematical genius allowed for the breaking of one the mostly guarded secrets of the Third Reich.

The exhibition has already been presented in museums of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and in National Codes Centre at Bletchley Park in Great Britain.

“Enigma–Decipher Victory,” an exhibit drawing attention to Polish contributions to Allied efforts to keep up with changes made by the Germans in their wartime use of the Enigma coding machines, was on display in Duquesne University’s Gumberg Library in Pittsburgh between October 4-14, 2021. 

It was sponsored by Duquesne University’s Gumberg Library, the Polish Cultural Council of Pittsburgh, Britsburgh (British-American Connections Pittsburgh), the Polish Cultural Institute New York, and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C.

Lead image: Three of the Polish code breakers. From left to right: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski. Image source: Wikipedia.