World War II Enigma Code Exhibition to be Featured at Gumberg Library

Gumberg Library is hosting a new exhibit and program that details how cracking the Enigma code, a cipher device used by the German military to encode strategic messages, was a vital breakthrough that helped end World War II.

The Role of Poles in Breaking the Enigma Code program and the Enigma-Decipher Victory exhibition are sponsored by Gumberg Library, the Polish Cultural Council and Britsburgh. The program and exhibit are free and open to the public.

Presented by Dr. Roman Sznajder, The Role of Poles in Breaking the Enigma Code is on Friday, Oct. 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Power Center Ballroom. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. A special exhibition preview will be available for attendees. Registration is required and can be done through Gumberg Library’s website.

The program reflects Duquesne’s commitment to expanding student horizons by offering outside programs and exhibits that provide insight into important world events and history.

Sznajder is professor of mathematics and graduate program coordinator in applied and computational mathematics at Bowie State University in Maryland. He has authored and co-authored many research articles, presented his findings at numerous national and international conferences and reviewed papers for more than 30 research journals.

An authentic Enigma machine will be on display during the event, courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, Special Collections, Traub-McCorduck Collection.

“This program will spotlight the all too often overlooked but invaluable role of Polish mathematicians in deciphering Enigma, an achievement which they shared with their British allies, ultimately facilitating the success of Alan Turing and other British codebreakers at Bletchley Park in breaking a more evolved version of the Enigma code later on, thereby shortening the war,” said Brittsburgh President Robert Charlesworth.

The Enigma—Decipher Victory exhibition will be on display in Gumberg Library’s fourth floor Popular Reading Room from Monday, Oct. 4, through Friday, Oct. 15. On loan from the Embassy of Poland in Washington, D.C., the exhibition draws 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.

Visitors will be able to view a sampling of World War II intelligence, propaganda, publications and artifacts from Gumberg Library’s James F. Clarke Collection on display in the Library’s first floor Archive. In 1942, Clarke headed the Balkan section of the Office of Strategic Services—the predecessor of the CIA—and from 1943-1945, he also directed the Balkan, Central and South-East European sections of the Office of War Information.

For more information about library hours and other events, visit the exhibit website.