“At the end of 1927, or possibly at the beginning of 1928, a parcel containing radio equipment, according to the declaration, arrived from Germany at the customs house in Warsaw. Because the parcel had been sent erroneously in place of other equipment, a representative of a German firm very insistently demanded the return of the parcel to the German government before it was cleared through customs. His demands were so urgent that they awakened the suspicions of the customs officers, who informed the Cipher Bureau of the Second Department of the General Staff... The box was carefully opened, and it was determined that indeed it did not contain radio equipment; it contained a cipher machine. The machine was thoroughly examined, and then the box was carefully refastened.” ~ Marian Rejewski, How Polish Mathematicians Broke the Enigma Cipher
Portrait of Marian Rejewski. Photo courtesy of Marian Rejewski.
