Bydgoszcz Central is one of the largest railway stations in Poland and the largest in the Kujawy-Pomerania Province. Naming the station after Marian Rejewski is a form of honoring the achievements of this brilliant Polish cryptologist.
The event was attended, among others, by the Chairman of the Board of Polskie Koleje Państwowe S.A. (Polish National Railways) Krzysztof Mamiński, Minister Łukasz Schreiber and the Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk. The latter emphasized that such initiatives constitute an excellent example of strengthening national identity and prove how important it is to commemorate key figures in Polish history.
The Institute of National Remembrance was represented by: Prof. Wojciech Polak – Deputy Chairman of the IPN Council, Prof. Mirosław Golon – Deputy Director of the Institute of National Remembrance Branch Office in Gdańsk and Edyta Cisewska - Head of the IPN Sub–Branch in Bydgoszcz.
Marian Adam Rejewski
Marian Adam Rejewski (born 16 August 1905, died 13 February 1980). He was born in Prussia, in a merchant family in Bydgoszcz, where he graduated from a Gymnasium in independent Poland. He obtained his university diploma in Poznań. While still a student, he attended a cryptology course organised by the Cipher Bureau of the Polish General Staff’s Second Department. In 1929, Rejewski was employed by the Cipher Bureau branch in Poznań, being at the same time involved with the Adam Mickiewicz University as an assistant. In September 1932, he was relocated to Warsaw as a civilian employee.
Rejewski, together with two other cryptologists, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, created a team tasked with breaking the Enigma machine, a German encryption device. Rejewski’s personal contribution was primarily creating the so-called ‘cryptologic bomb’, which made it possible to find within no more than two hours the daily encryption key used by the Germans. Due to this achievement, Polish analysts joined the ranks of the greatest cryptologists of all time. Before the war broke out, they shared their discovery with the military intelligence agencies of Poland’s French and English allies.
After September 1939, Polish cryptologists fled to France through Romania. In France, they were tasked with breaking German ciphers at two different cryptology centres (first ‘Bruno’, then ‘Cadix’). They stayed in southern France almost until the end of 1942. Due to the risk of being exposed, they decided to flee to England, through Spain (where they were temporarily imprisoned) and Portugal. In the British Isles, in a radio unit directly under the Commander-in-Chief, they broke codes used by the SS and SD – they were no longer involved in deciphering messages encrypted by the Enigma machine.
Rejewski returned to Poland in 1946 to reunite with his family. He planned to find employment with the Adam Mickiewicz University, but eventually, until his retirement, he worked as a clerk for different companies. Between 1949 and 1958, Rejewski was under surveillance by the communist Department of Security. He revealed his role in deciphering the Enigma code only after his retirement in the late 1960s.