German mathematicians and their work in cryptology during the Second World War

What is it about?

By now, a great deal is known about the contributions of Alan Turing, I. J. Good, Max Newman, and other mathematicians who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II. But what about the other side? Until recently, very little was known about the German mathematicians who aided the Nazi war effort: who were they, where did they work, and what did they do? But now, thanks to the release of a large number of TICOM documents in recent years, an initial picture is beginning to emerge. In this article, we identify the most important mathematicians who worked in the different German cryptologic organizations during the war: who they were, how they were recruited, which organizations they were in, and what they did (when this is known). Although their successes never rivalled those of Bletchley Park, they did have successes, and these were sometimes due to the efforts of mathematicians who went on to have distinguished careers after the war. One question that motivated this study was to understand the reasons for the German communications security meltdown during the war: how they got the Enigma and Tunny security assessments partly right but mostly wrong. As will be seen, this was not due to a lack of talent: some of the very best German mathematicians contributed to their war effort. The answer lies instead in how these potentially very useful assets were actually used (in striking contrast with what happened at Bletchley Park).

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Why is it important?

Many mathematicians worked at Bletchley Park during WWII and made major contributions to the war effort. These included outstanding research mathematicians such as Alan Turing, I. J. Good, Max Newman, Shaun Wylie, Peter Hilton, and William Tutte. But who were their German counterparts? After all, before the Second World War (or at least before the rise to power of the Nazis), Germany was the world centre for mathematics. It is hard to believe that German mathematicians, unlike their Allied counterparts, played no significant part in the 1939–1945 cryptologic war. And yet virtually nothing has been written on this intriguing subject. Our aim is to address this issue and by revealing the cryptanalytical work done by German mathematicians establish a better balance in the cryptological war fought between the Allies and Germany during the Second World War.