Ostwin Fritz Menzer (6 April 1908 in Herrndorf near
Niederschöna in
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
between
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...
and
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
– 25 October 2005 in
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...
) was a German
cryptologist
This is a list of cryptographers. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries.
Pre twentieth century
* Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: wrote a (now lost) book ...
, who before and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, worked in the
In 7/VI, the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
signals intelligence agency, later working in (
OKW/ Chi) that was the cipher bureau of the supreme command of the Nazi party, and later in
Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
, the military intelligence service of the Wehrmacht. He was involved in the development and production of cryptographic devices and procedures, as well as the security control of their own methods.
[ ]
Life
At the age of 18, he joined the
Reichswehr
''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...
as a mechanic and was assigned to a
motorized battalion with a location in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. Menzer had already developed an interest in cryptography and was granted a patent for a "combined measuring apparatus for angles and lengths, the data
rom which wasexpressed in an enciphered form in a four-place combination of letters".
After 12 years in the Signals Corps, where he had risen to the rank of ''Oberfunkmeister'' (a senior NCO rank), where his duties were to lick and seal hundreds of envelopes daily, he was eventually sent to OKW/Chi for testing. After his inclination and aptitude test for
cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...
work had been recognized at the Army Signal School, he was transferred to the
Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht
The Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (german: Amtsgruppe Wehrmachtnachrichtenverbindungen, Abteilung Chiffrierwesen) (also ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Chiffrierabteilung'' or ''Chiffrierabteilung of the High Command of the W ...
(OKW/Chi) in May 1933, where he was taught cryptanalysis techniques, among others by the head of the main group B,
Wilhelm Fenner
Wilhelm Fenner (* 14 April 1891 in Saint Petersburg †after 1946) was a German Cryptanalysis, cryptanalyst, before and during the time of World War II in the OKW/Chi, the Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, working within ...
. A year later, in 1936, in a team led by
Otto Buggisch
Otto Buggisch (28 June 1910 – 15 September 1991) was a German mathematician who, during World War II, was a cryptanalyst working in the cipher bureau, the Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW/Chi) responsible for decipher ...
, he had developed cryptanalytic methods to break the
C-36 C36 or C-36 may refer to:
Vehicles
;Aircraft
* Caspar C 36, a German reconnaissance aircraft
* Castel C-36, a French glider
* EKW C-36, a Swiss multi-purpose combat aircraft
* Lockheed C-36 Electra, an American military transport aircraft
;Au ...
, a
rotor-key cipher machine of the
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
Boris Hagelin
Boris Caesar Wilhelm Hagelin (2 July 1892 – 7 September 1983) was a Swedish businessman and inventor of encryption machines.
Biography
Born of Swedish parents in Adshikent, Russian Empire, Hagelin attended Lundsberg boarding school and late ...
type. In addition, he developed a cryptanalytic method for breaking the Wehrmacht's own machine, the
Enigma machine. Subsequently, he was commissioned to lead his own unit within OKW/Chi, which had to deal with the cryptanalysis of foreign cryptographic methods, as well as the development and security check of own procedures and construction of new cryptanalytic aids. Thus, at the age of 28, Fritz Menzer became the Chief of Communications Security for the German Army.
Menzer stated at the time:
:''Since the troops and their command, because of their ignorance of the scientific status of cryptanalytic methods, regarded encipherment as a drag on modern communications technique; I often had to overcome great difficulties to put through my ideas.''
His service as a soldier ended on 32 May 1938 with a rank of Senior Radio Technician. He stayed with the OKW/Chi as civilian. Two years later, in 1940, he was promoted as a government (german: Regierungsinspektor)
inspector
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Australia
In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...
, and was entrusted with the management of Unit IIc of OKW/Chi, dealing with the development and manufacture of special encryption for government agencies such as
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
and
Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
, as well as for the German industry. On 1 April 1940, he was promoted to the rank of Superior Government Inspector. With the increased emphasis on cryptographic security and long range communications, in early 1942, Menzer's section was broken up into three functional subsections. Later in 1942,
Admiral Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Canaris was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi re ...
, gave Menzer the responsibility of testing the security of the Abwehr cryptographic systems.
To what extent Fritz Menzer can actually be regarded as an ''inventor'' of various, partly innovative key machines, such as the key machine 39 and the key device 41, also ''Hitlermühle'' is controversial "Always the firearms" and not OKW/Chi. However, he was probably at least involved in the design of the machines and entrusted with their technical review.
Later in 1942, Canaris commissioned Menzer to carry out security checks on their own cryptographic procedures. Menzer recognized blatant cryptographic weaknesses of the methods used, and in the summer of 1943 reworked all the manual methods used by the Abwehr. He introduced the
ABC Schlüssel
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
Procedure 62
Procedure may refer to:
* Medical procedure
* Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to achieve some result, such as to prepare or make something
* Procedure (business), specifying parts of a business process
* Standard operat ...
and
Procedure 40
Procedure may refer to:
* Medical procedure
* Instructions or recipes, a set of commands that show how to achieve some result, such as to prepare or make something
* Procedure (business), specifying parts of a business process
* Standard operat ...
, which were all double transposition (
Transposition cipher
In cryptography, a transposition cipher is a method of encryption which scrambles the positions of characters (''transposition'') without changing the characters themselves. Transposition ciphers reorder units of plaintext (typically characters or ...
) and
substitution
Substitution may refer to:
Arts and media
*Chord substitution, in music, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression
* Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion
* "Substitution" (song), a 2009 song by Silversun Pi ...
systems, as well as the Schlüsselrad or Cipher Wheel, a hand cranked
autoclave
An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizat ...
.
He remained as an adviser cryptologist in the defense until the end of the war, which he did not experience in Berlin, but together with part of the OKW/Chi under the direction of Wilhelm Fenner in the south of the Reich, in
Werfen
Werfen () is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is mainly known for medieval Hohenwerfen Castle and the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, the largest in the world.
Geography
Werfen is located in the ...
. On 23 April 1945, OKW/Chi was officially disbanded and the staff was assigned to the
General der Nachrichtenaufklärung
''General der Nachrichtenaufklärung'' was the signals intelligence agency of the German Army (1935-1945), Heer (German Army), before and during World War II. It was the successor to the former cipher bureau known as Inspectorate 7/VI in operatio ...
(GdNA)
Just before the American army reached its location about 40 km south of
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
, they burned their documents or threw them into the
Salzach
The Salzach (Austrian: ˆsaltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limestone and Central E ...
. With the capitulation of the Wehrmacht on 8 May 1945, the service was terminated for all former members of the OKW. Menzer was captured and interned at the
US camp Neufeld near
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
.
On 17 June, he was released and travelled to the
Soviet Zone of Occupation
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
(SBZ), first to the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, and on 22 September to
Zschopau
Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany.
Geography
The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the Ore Mountains, on both Bank (geography), banks of the Zschopau (river), Zschopau River, about south-east ...
, where he worked as a teacher from January 1946. Shortly afterwards, due to his past in the Wehrmacht he was unsuccessfully dismissed. In the turmoil of the beginning of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
he again came in contact with the US-Americans in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
on 8 September 1947 and was taken to Camp King in
Oberursel
Oberursel (Taunus) () is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In 2011, the town hosted the 51st Hes ...
near
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. Menzer was released and returned Zschopau on 12 September. He was arrested on 20 September by the Soviet Russians and imprisoned in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
and interrogated with regard to his contacts with the Americans. Finally, on 13 March 1948, he was released after he had consented to spy for the Soviets. In April 1949, he decided to flee from the Soviet Zone and travelled over West Berlin to the western occupation zones (
Allied-occupied Germany
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
). His name last appeared in 1951 in documents.
A death notice from the Frankfurt area shows his death at the age of 97 years. Accordingly, he was buried on 5 November 2005 in
Bad Homburg
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...
Menzer's inventions
During Menzer's service with the OKW/Chi and the Abwehr between 1935 and 1945, he was responsible for a number of advances in the machine cryptography science. His technique was to adapt the use of Hagelin pin wheels to provide for irregular wheel motion in cryptographic machinery.
Before World War II, there were two types of cipher machinery used by Germany. These were the
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
cipher machine and those of Hagelin type cryptographic machinery. In the latter, all wheels stepped once with each encipherment with the cycle extended by the use of different ''length'' wheels. For the Enigma, motion was of the
odometer
An odometer or odograph is an instrument used for measuring the distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or car. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two (electromechanical). The noun derives from ancient Gr ...
-type, with the only variation being the starting point of the cycle on each rotors. Fritz Menzer's inventions were designed to make such motions unpredictable.
:
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menzer, Fritz
20th-century German inventors
German cryptographers
1908 births
2005 deaths
German military personnel of World War II
History of telecommunications in Germany
Telecommunications in World War II
Reichswehr personnel