Enigma is an encryption machine used by the German armed forces during World War II. Enigma I of the Museum of Recent History of Slovenia is a standard three-ring version used by the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe. The essential parts of the Enigma are the keyboard, interchangeable reels and front switch panel. Once we have inserted the specified key (set up the electrical circuit by selecting and setting up the reels and switchboard), we can start encrypting the message. By pressing a letter, an electric current flows and changes the basic letter or message. The receiver on the other side must use the same key and reverse the process to convert the encrypted record into a readable message.
Other intelligence services tried to decipher the German coded messages. In the beginning, the Poles were the most successful, but after the attack on Poland, the British took over the task of unravelling the puzzle. The closely guarded operation, later called Ultra, was launched in 1939 at Bletchley Park in England. The people who worked there with decryption were top experts, electrical engineers, mathematicians, and physicists. It is believed that the first precursor to the computer was born at Bletchley Park at this time. At the time of its greatest development, around 7,000 people were engaged in deciphering the code. The British managed to read the top-secret German messages. It is estimated that because of the success in deciphering the Enigma, World War II was shortened by half to a year.
Around 350 are currently kept around the world; very few are well preserved.
Date: 1942
Material: metal, rubber
Dimensions: 34.3 x 28 x 15.2
Inventory number: 8464
On view at the permanent exhibition Slovenes in the XX. century
