Antoni Palluth (11 May 1900, Pobiedziska, Province of Posen – 18 April 1944) was a founder of the AVA Radio Company. The company built communications equipment for the Polish military; the work included not only radios but also cryptographic equipment. Palluth was involved with the German section (''BS-4'') of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

General Staff's

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

Cipher Bureau. He helped teach courses on cryptanalysis, and he was involved with building equipment to break the German Enigma machine.

Life

Palluth was a civil-engineer graduate of the

Warsaw Polytechnic The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...

. In January 1929, he was one of the instructors in a

cryptology Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

course organized by the Cipher Bureau, at

Poznań University Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

, which was attended by selected mathematics students. The students included future Cipher Bureau civilian employees Marian Rejewski,

Jerzy Różycki Jerzy Witold Różycki (; Vilshana, Ukraine, 24 July 1909 – 9 January 1942, Mediterranean Sea, near the Balearic Islands) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers before and during World ...

and

Henryk Zygalski Henryk Zygalski (; 15 July 1908 – 30 August 1978) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma ciphers before and during World War II. Life Zygalski was born on 15 July 1908 in Posen, German Empire (now Pozn ...

. In the 1930s, Palluth was one of the four directors of the AVA Radio Company in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, which produced cryptologic equipment designed by the Cipher Bureau. In March 1943, while attempting to cross the border from German-occupied

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

into

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Palluth was captured by the Germans along with the Cipher Bureau's chief, Lt. Col. Gwido Langer, its German section's chief, Major

Maksymilian Ciężki Maksymilian Ciężki (; Samter, Province of Posen (now Szamotuły, Poland), 24 November 1898 – 9 November 1951 in London, England) was the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau's German section (''BS–4'') in the 1930s, during which time— ...

, and civilians Edward Fokczyński and Kazimierz Gaca. Palluth died during an Allied air raid at the German Sachsenhausen

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

Notes

References

* Beata Majchrowska, ''Więcej niż enigma. Historia Antoniego Pallutha'', biography, Warsaw, 2020 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palluth, Antoni 1900 births 1944 deaths People from Pobiedziska 20th-century Polish engineers People from the Province of Posen Cipher Bureau (Poland) People who died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp Polish civilians killed in World War II Deaths by airstrike during World War II Polish people who died in Nazi concentration camps

Life

See also

Notes

References