Jan Józef Graliński (February 8, 1895 – January 9, 1942) was chief of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

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 relativel ...

Cipher Bureau's Russian section, ''B.S.-3.'' After

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

was overrun by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

s and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

s in September 1939, Graliński managed, along with other Cipher Bureau personnel, to reach

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. He became part of the reconstituted Polish

cryptologic Cryptologic Limited was a Dublin, Ireland-based software application service provider (formerly Toronto, Ontario, Canada), one of the oldest established in the online gambling industry. It was acquired by the Amaya Gaming Group in 2012 and has si ...

unit that was housed during the "Phony War" in the ''Château de Vignolles'', codenamed ''

PC Bruno ''PC Bruno'' was a Polish–French–Spanish signals–intelligence station near Paris during World War II, from October 1939 until June 1940. Its function was decryption of cipher messages, most notably German messages enciphered on the Enigma ...

'', at

Gretz-Armainvilliers Gretz-Armainvilliers () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Gretzois'' in French. See also *Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department The ...

, some forty kilometers northeast of Paris. After northern France was overrun by German forces in May–June 1940, Graliński was one of the Polish cryptologic team that operated at ''

Cadix ''Cadix'' was a World War II clandestine intelligence center at Uzès, in southern France, from September 1940 to 9 November 1942. During this period southern France was under the control of Vichy France and not occupied by Nazi Germany. At ''Cad ...

'' in southern,

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

's "Free Zone." Graliński perished in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, near the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

, on January 9, 1942. He was returning to the Cadix center, near

Uzès Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès. History Originally ''Ucetia ...

in southern France, from a stint at Cadix's branch office at the '' Château Couba'' on the outskirts of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. His passenger ship, the '' SS Lamoricière'', sank in unclear circumstances. Fellow victims of the disaster, among the 222 passengers lost, included

Piotr Smoleński Piotr Smoleński (died 9 January 1942) was a cryptologist in the Russian section (''B.S.-3'') of the interbellum Polish General Staff's Cipher Bureau. With other cryptologists, including Jan Graliński, he died in the sinking of the passenger ...

, likewise of the prewar Cipher Bureau's Russian section, and

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 ...

of its German section, as well as a French officer accompanying the three Poles, Capt. François Lane. In 1978 cryptologist

Marian Rejewski Marian Adam Rejewski (; 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma cipher machine, aided by limited documents obtained by French mili ...

, of the prewar Cipher Bureau's German section (''B.S.-4''), was asked by historian

Richard Woytak Richard Andrew Woytak (Poland, 18 December 1940 – 6 March 1998, Monterey, California, United States) was a Poland, Polish–United States, American historian who specialized in European history of the Interbellum and World War II. He was the ...

whether he had known Capt. (eventually Major) Graliński. Rejewski replied that he had but that, for reasons of security, they had never discussed their respective cryptologic work. Rejewski added that Graliński "was supposed to have been very talented."

References

Władysław Kozaczuk Władysław Kozaczuk (23 December 1923 – 26 September 2003) was a Polish Army colonel and a military and intelligence historian. Life Born in the village of Babiki near Sokółka, Kozaczuk joined the army in 1944, during World War II, at Bia� ...

, ''

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 o ...

: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two'', edited and translated by

Christopher Kasparek Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a Scottish-born writer of Polish descent who has translated works by numerous authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Władysław K ...

, Frederick, MD, University Publications of America, 1984, pp. 82, 128, 240 ''et passim.'' * Tessa Stirling ''et al.'', eds., ''Intelligence Co-operation between Poland and Great Britain during World War II'', vol. I: the Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee, London, Vallentine Mitchell, 2005, .