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This page contains the latest news regarding Crypto Museum. Whenever
something important has happened, or when we've made significant changes
to the website, we will issue a news bulletin. If you are on Twitter, you will
receive a notification as and when new information becomes available. Click the
Twitter-button at the top of this page to subscribe.
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2 May 2012
Two months ago we received three crypto devices as a generous gift
from the Italian manufacturer Telsy.
Last week the Turin-based company donated another two devices: a
TDS-2004 (1981)
and a modern Cryptophone 7000 (1990).
Both are now on the website.
We should like to thank Telsy once more for their continuing support
of Crypto Museum.
 About Telsy
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Breaking news: FS-5000 DSU uncovered!
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18 April 2012
The FS-5000 (codename HARPOON) was the last spy radio system used by
the stay-behind networks in Europe, commonly known as Gladio.
It was used by NATO countries as well as non-NATO countries (e.g.
Switzerland). The set was introduced around 1990, right before most
countries were force to shut-down their 'Gladio' operation in 1991
and 1992.
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In 2005 a small number of FS-5000 sets appeared on the surplus market.
Unfortunately however, the so-called Digital Storage Unit (DSU) was missing.
The DSU controls the other modules and contains a high-end
cryptographic module, which is probably the main reason why they
were destroyed at the time.
We are pleased to announce the fact that we now have a complete and
functional FS-5000 spy set with the DSU.
Take a look inside.
More information
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Two Dutch teams in codebreakers finals
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12 April 2012
In December of last year, the Polish province of Wielkopolska
lauched a codebreaking challenge at the special website
CODEBREAKERS.EU (see Break de Code, below).
The event is organised by the Marshal Office of Wielkopolska
and 128 teams from 23 countries have entered the contest.
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We are pleased to announce that two Dutch teams have made it to the finals.
They are invited to come to Poznan (Poland) next week and take it up against
a team of Polish students.
One of the Dutch teams is a group of geocaching enthusiasts working at
ASML in Veldhoven (NL).
As Veldhoven is not too far from Eindhoven, the Dutch ASML-team
visited Crypto Museum today.
From left to right are John, Rien and Jan-Gerard sitting around a war-time
German Army Enigma machine.
The Enigma and its history played
an important part during the crypto challenge.
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Next week, John Besselink, Rien Bijl and Jan-Gerard van der Toorn
will be the guest of the Marshal of Wielkopolska (President of the Region),
mr. Marek Wozniak, and the head of The Office for War Veterans and
Victims of Oppression, Minister Jan S. Ciechanowski.
They will defend the honour of Noord Brabant, the Dutch provice
that is twinned with Wielkopolska.
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The other Dutch team is from the south-west part of the country and is shown
in the image on the right (click for a closer look).
They too are hard-core geocachers.
The team consists of Gerrit van Woerkom (left),
Hans Nelisse (top right) and Arjen Beenhakker (bottom right).
They are from Oudemolen (NB), Dinteloord (NB) and Woudbrugge (ZH).
The final rounds of the game will take up two days and hopefully there will be
some time left to do site-seeing in the Poznan area. There must be many
interesting historical sites to visit there.
Crypto Museum wishes all teams the best of luck.
Fingers crossed for the Dutch teams, of course.
You may follow the progress on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/codebreakerseu
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26 February 2012
Because of the importance of his work as a codebreaker, computer pioneer
and openly gay man, 2012 has been proclaimed The Alan Turing Year. To
celebrate the 100th birthday of this remarkable person, numerous events
will be organized all over the world.
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On Monday 16 April 2012, the Radboud University of Nijmegen
(Netherlands) has organized a Masterclass Turing for pre-acedemic
students. Crypto Museum will be present at this event with a range
of historical Enigma machines.
Crypto Museum staff will be available on-site for hands-on
demonstrations and a 1-hour talk about Enigma and code-breaking
during WWII.
More information
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Museum Scryption closes down
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5 December 2011
Due to financial cuts of the Tilburg city council,
museum Scryption had to close its doors in January
2011. Most of the staff was dismissed and the entire collection was
stored elsewhere.
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During the course of 2011, the two remaining staff
members managed to produce a series of successful ad-hoc events,
such as the recent 2-day crypto exhibition at
GOVCERT 2011
that was organized in cooperation with Crypto Museum.
Furthermore, plans emerged to move the entire museum to a new location
in Eindhoven. This was met with great enthusiasm by the Eindhoven
city council, and plans were made to move to a temporary location in
the so-called Klokgebouw (Clock Building) at Strijp S,
right at the creative heart of technology city Eindhoven.
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Last month however, the Eindhoven city council unexpectedly decided not
to make the necessary funds available. As a result, the Scryption society
board has now decided to dismiss the two remaining staff members and sell
the entire collection. Crypto Museum thinks this is a great loss, not just
for Eindhoven, but for the entire country as well.
Scryption was a unique hand-on museum and was one
of the few technology museums left in this country.
We would like to thank Scryption for their
great support and cooperation. It was a pleasure working with you.
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30 November 2011
Follow in the footsteps of the famous war-time Polish codebreakers
by joining the online cryptology game at
CODEBREAKERS.EU.
The game is organized by the Marshal Office of Wielkopolska in Poland
and the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression.
Anyone who is 16 years or older is invited to enter.
The winners will be invited to challenge a team of Polish codebreakers
in spring 2012. All costs will be covered.
The game will be started on 10 December 2011 and you can register your
team now.
Wielkopolska is the Polish province where three young mathematicians
of the Poznan University, Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and and Jerzy
Rozycki, first broke the Enigma codes just
before the outbreak of WWII. As part of the current Polish Presidency of
the EU, the Government of the Wielkopolska Region is trying to bring the
Polish contributions to the breaking of the Enigma codes to our attention.
Earlier this year, they organized the exhibition
Enigma, deciphered victory
in the General Maczek Museum in Breda (Netherlands).
More about the game
Go to the website CODEBREAKERS.EU
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In memoriam: Oskar Stürzinger (1920-2011)
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12 September 2011
And yet another iconic persion is no longer with us. Today we received
the sad news that on 23 July 2011, Oskar Sturzinger,
Boris Hagelin's
first employee in Switzerland, died at the age of 91.
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We first met Oskar during the presentation of Dominik Landwehr's book
Mythos Enigma
on 8 November 2008 in Basel (Switzerland). Although he was
already in his late 80s at the time, he travelled all the way from his home
in Monte Carlo to Basel and collected some historical Hagelin machines on
the way down.
During the day, he demonstrated the small mechanical marvels of technology
and explained the circumstances under which they were conceived.
He even insisted on giving a brief talk about the history of Hagelin.
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In Memoriam: Tony Sale (1931-2011)
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31 August 2011
Today we received the sad new that on 29 August 2011, Tony Sale, head of the
Colossus Rebuild Team,
died at the age of 80. Tony, who worked for MI5
during his professional life, spend most of his time with computers.
In 1991, when Bletchley Park
was under threat of being demolished, he formed a team to fight
for the survival of this historical place. This was the start of the
Bletchley Park Trust. When Bletchley Park opened as a museum in 1993,
Tony was its first curator.
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When Tony learned about the fact that the first electronic computer - Colossus -
was developed and built at Bletchley Park, he took upon him the enormous task
to create a working replica of it.
He started the project in 1991,
initially funded by himself and his wife Margaret.
Helped by a team of volunteers and even by some of the original engineers,
the Colossus Replica broke its first Lorenz messages in 2007.
© Photograph copyright South Bed News,
The Telegraph, 31 August 2011.
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Although Tony was already 80 years of age, he was by no means old and had many
plans for the future. He worked on Colossus nearly every day and was never too
tired to give a full explanation of its inner secrets.
During our many visits to Bletchley Park, we met Tony seveal times and it was
always a pleasure to talk with him.
His contributions to the Bletchley Park Museum and to the history of
computing will be his living memory.
Our thoughts are with his wife Margaret (herself a volunteer at BP)
and his children and grand-children.
Tony Sale obituary on the TNMOC site
Some great pictures of Tony Sale
Tony Sale's website Code and Ciphers
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Enigma, the Polish victory
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21 June 2011
A brand new exibition about the Polish contribution to breaking the
Enigma codes, will be open between 3 July 2011 and 15 September 2011.
This exhibition, that has been running in Poland and at Bletchley Park
in the past, is now the guest of the Maczek Museum in Breda
(Netherlands).
Crypto Museum has helped setting up this exhibition by supplying some
rare cipher machines.
More information
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Crypto Museum now on YouTube
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26 March 2011
Following our move to Twitter earlier this month, we are pleased to
announce that we've now opened
our own YouTube channel
as well.
Over the years we've collected some quite nice video material that we
can now share with you. Right now, only a few video clips are available.
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We've already added a few video clips to some of our pages,
and we will post new material as and when it becomes available.
Click the YouTube button at the top of each page to enter our YouTube
channel. The first video clip to be made available is a short impression
of the exhibition Secret Messages,
recorded in 2008 in Museum Jan Corver.
Crypto Museum on YouTube
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KESO key for Hagelin HC-570
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25 March 2011
In December of last year, we acquired a very nice and rare Hagelin HC-570
cipher machine. Unfortunately, the primary KESO key was missing, so the
machine could neither be operated nor opened.
Luckyly, key expert Barry Wels came to the rescue once again.
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Barry helped us before in 2009, with the creation of a working key
for our Enigma M4,
without removing or damaging the lock.
Today, Barry visited Crypto Museum again and
made us a matching KESO key, using a technique called impressioning.
Watch the video.
As a result we can now start work on bringing the machine back to life.
More information
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Wooden cases for Enigma-E
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12 March 2011
Some time ago, a couple of Enigma-E users produced oak wooden boxes in
small quantities. Interested Enigma-E users were able to order these
boxes via e-mail. Unfortunately, the source of these wooden boxes
seem to have dried up now. There is good news however.
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We are pleased to announce that we are now able to supply our own
pre-built oak wooden cases for the Enigma-E.
The cases are all of excellent quality, including hinges, but no locks.
They are available from the usual outlets:
Museum Jan Corver (Netherlands) and the Bletchley Park Museum shop (UK).
Both ship world-wide. For pricing, please refer to the respective
websites.
More information
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Crypto Museum now on Twitter
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1 March 2011
As many people use social media these days,
Crypto Museum has opened its own Twitter account.
If you want to know which new items have been added
to our website, or in which exhibition our stuff can be viewed,
follow us on twitter.
Alternatively, you may click the blue twitter icon at the top of each page.
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Enigma-E in stock again at BP
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Enigma-E website moved to Crypto Museum website
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2 February 2010
Today, the well-known Enigma-E website has been moved
here completely.
It is now fully integrated with the Crypto Museum website.
The website has been given an new layout and the text and photographs
have been updated. Furthermore, many new links to additional information
have been added.
More information
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© Copyright 2009-2012, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Thu,03 May 2012.14:28:38
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