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 * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

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 rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

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

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

was overrun by the

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s and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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 sin ...

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 ''C ...

'' in southern,

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

'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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, near the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

, 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. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon, and southeast of Alès. History Originally ''Ucetia'' or ''Eutica'' in Latin, Uzès wa ...

in southern France, from a stint at Cadix's branch office at the ''

Château Couba A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

'' on the outskirts of

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

. His passenger ship, the ''

SS Lamoricière SS ''Lamoricière'' was a French passenger liner operated by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. It was named after the French General Louis Juchault de Lamoricière. Ship The ship had been built in the Newcastle yards of Swan Hunter in ...

'', sank in unclear circumstances. Fellow victims of the disaster, among the 222 passengers lost, included Piotr Smoleński, likewise of the prewar Cipher Bureau's Russian section, and

Jerzy Różycki Jerzy Witold Różycki (; 24 July 1909 – 9 January 1942) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who worked at breaking German Enigma-machine ciphers before and during World War II. Life Różycki was born in what is now Ukraine, the fou ...

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 people, Polish mathematician and Cryptography, cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma machine, Enigma cipher machine, aided ...

, 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 Polish– American historian who specialized in European history of the Interbellum and World War II. He was the author of the 1979 b ...

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 B ...

, '' Enigma: 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 Polish authors, including Ignacy Krasicki, Bolesław Prus, Florian Znaniecki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Marian Rejewski, and Wł ...

, 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, .