Enigma cipher center commemorates the most celebrated Polish cryptologists who broke the code of the German Enigma encryption machine. The strength of this interactive exhibition is that it tells a large communicative in an breathtaking and modern way. Piotr Bojarski, head of the center, together with the team, were awarded the Buzdigan ’23 award.
The hardest case? Language. For how does a simple bread eater explain in a short and accessible way what permutation is? To tell it is so that the thing interests him? We have worked on this for a very long time – admits Piotr Bojarski, the manager of Enigma's Digital Center in Poznań. – Further versions of the accompanying descriptions of the exhibition were passed through Jasnapis.pl, a tool to measurement the difficulties of the text. Initially, we were located in the top registers of a seven-degree scale. Eventually, however, we went down to the level of four–five – he adds. This is just 1 example of how the Poznań facility squad works. “I have come to work with fantastic people who, thanks to their passion and creativity, are able to solve all problem.” Thanks to them, the project, which long remained only in the sphere of ideas, took shape.
Idea commemorations Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różyckithree Poznań cryptologistsWho broke the code of the German Enigma encryption machine, matured for years. In 2007 the obelisk dedicated to them was placed in front of the Imperial Castle. 3 years later Simon Mazur, then writer of Radio Mercury, proposed the creation of a museum. However, the task had to wait for a good time. In 2019, the Poznań authorities signed a contract with the Marshal's Office of Wielkopolska Voivodeship and Adam Mickiewicz University. The cost of the task was calculated at PLN 30 million, of which more than 1 3rd managed to get from the European Union. The screenplay of the exhibition was created by Dr. Marek Grażek, an expert in cryptology and author of books devoted to Enigmie. yet Enigma Digital Center was launched in the fall of 2021. present it is part of Poznań Heritage Centre.
– A large story, besides connected with our city, we want to show it in a modern way, involving the viewer and revealing the contemporary contexts – Bojarski emphasizes. The exhibition was divided into 3 parts. At first, the visitors undergo a cryptology course like the 1 who completed Rejewski, Zygalski and Różycki in 1929. They'll inactive know. history of breaking German ciphers. In this part of the exhibition you can see the first Enigma encryption device or reconstruction of the Rejewski bomb – devices utilized to break German ciphers. The 3rd installment is simply a journey to the present. The authors show that the improvement of cryptology opened the door to the improvement of the current digital world.
Enigma Digital Center is not just an interactive exhibition. The facility carries out many another projects. 1 of them is the task "Szyphrodite". – During planet War II, 10,000 Americans and 7.5 1000 British women served in the sub-units dealing with ciphers. Meanwhile, not many people know that the beautiful card has besides been written here by Polki – says Katarzyna Kucharska, programme specialist at the Poznań Centre, and lists author Hanna Malewska, after the war editor-in-chief of the publishing home Znak, who created a cell of ciphers called Karolinka in occupied Warsaw. Women became heroes of the mobile exhibition, and they will besides be devoted to another edition of editons. Under this name there are workshops organised by the centre, whose participants supplement the online resources of the encyclopedia and make fresh slogans. – For me, discovering this communicative was an breathtaking adventure. At specified moments I feel that what we do makes sense – Kucharska admits. akin notes sound in the voice of Maxim Kempiński, a harvest specialist who, together with Marcin Słomiński, the deputy manager of the centre, pilots the task "Pixel Revolution", popularizing Polish digital culture. “We talk about demoscene authors who created audiovisual works in the 1980s, as well as the creators of loud computer games. We organize meetings with them, we besides had a festival of old games – Kempiński says. In addition, there is simply a full scope of educational projects aimed at all practically age groups, from respective years of children to pensioners. – For example, we run RAR, or household Robotics Academy. The task is addressed to children aged 6–12 who, together with their parents and our experts, build and program robots from Lego Education Spike Prime blocks, explains Joanna Szafranska-Semenko, a specialist in the education team.
“This is an absolutely unique place, co-created by exceptional people”, says Maria Kołtunowska of the Department of Cybersecurity of the MON. “We drew attention to them in the occasion of Marian Rejewski’s competition organized by us, addressed to young scientists in the field of cybersecurity and cryptology. We have proposed that they become our partner, and that is how they stay today," he adds. It was from the department that the proposal came out to honor the Enigma Cipher Center squad with Buzdigan. They absolutely deserve it. They reconstruct in the country and global awareness the memory of a very important, but over the years underestimated part of our past – the breaking of Enigma codes by Poles. They besides show how much Rejewski's investigation has had and continues to exert on our current life," Kołtunowska emphasises.
Meanwhile, Bojarski assures us that they have not yet said their last word. – In the band we have historians, art historians, philologists, grocers, theatre instructors, art students, people with very different experiences, sensitivity, visions of the world. They bring ideas for fresh projects, exhibitions, projects. This year, for example, we launched a task dedicated to Henryk Zygalski, a friend of Enigma's slayers – emphasises Bojarski. He himself worked as a writer for many years, deputy chief of the Poznań city department “Gazeta Wyborcza”. – In a sense, working in the center is simply a natural continuation of my professional career, and at the same time for a small fresh life. I'm certain it's just as interesting – he concludes.
