The Workers Who Built the Enigma

We know quite a few details about the history of the German cipher machine Enigma. Today I think we can safely say it is world famous and that most people have heard something about the machine. Unfortunately not all of the publicly available information is correct, but this is something I hope to correct with time. Some of the wrong information will probably take quite some time to correct, because it has been repeated so long and frequently, and other information is only partially wrong, which might mean it can be even more difficult to correct. However, this is not what I want to talk about today. 

Today I want to pay my respect to the so far unknown Enigma workers, the men and women who built the machines; the men who machined the pieces and assembled the machines and the women who wired the rotors, performed acceptance tests and prepared the machines for shipment. I will not talk about the engineers and the draughtsmen who designed the machines, only the simple workers who toiled to build the machines. These people are usually those that history forgets. I want to change that.

When writing history one should always try to tell the truth and not shy away from also presenting the ugly and less favourable aspects, but one should also be careful not to defame neither dead nor living persons. Privacy laws are very different in different countries and it is not always easy to decide how to deal with the identities of people who do not occupy an official or public position.  To avoid problems it is a common practice to anonymise peoples names when a person is part of the story but his or her identity do not add significantly to the story. This would also normally have applied to the story I present now. The identities of the Enigma workers will not change significantly the history of the Enigma, but I want to turn the history on its head and say that the Enigma changes the history and memory of these people. Most, if not all of them are probably now dead, but they will have family and descendants who probably today will be proud to learn that their father, mother, uncle or aunt built the famous Enigma machine.

Some of you will perhaps say that these people were aiding the German war industry and that their work prolonged to war. First of all I should like to stress that the workers I present for you were employed in the early to mid 1930s, long before Germany went to war. Some of the workers had been with the Enigma company since the very beginning, such as Max Reichenbach, who worked for Gewerkschaft Securitas and Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft at least as early as from 1923. If you still think they helped prolong the war I can only say that every single living soul in Germany who simply went to work and payed their taxes, were aiding the war industry. The Enigma workers did not make bombes and grenades and the materials that went into the production of the Enigma was at least not used to kill people. I might even go so far as to say that we should thank these people that they managed to produce so many Enigma machines for the Wehrmacht. That they managed to build all these machines and to deliver them on time only increased the Wehrmacht's dependance on the Enigma. It made it less likely that the Germans would change the machine for a much more secure machine such as Cipher Device 39 (Schlüsselgerät 39). This machine, which was in development since 1939, used Hagelin type pin-wheels to control the transport of the wired wheels or rotors similar to those used in the Enigma. I doubt the British or American cryptanalysts would have managed to break and exploit this machine in the same way as they did with the Enigma. So in a sense, we can safely say the Enigma workers helped to shorten the war by two years; if we can believe the estimate that has been made about the importance of breaking the Enigma.

Letter to Heimsoeth & Rinke from OKW about the
use of foreign workers at their factory Konski & Krüger.

When the war broke out the production firms were put under additional stress. Some of their workers were called up for war duty and others volunteered for war service.  The Enigma firm Chiffriermaschinengesellschaft Heimsoeth und Rinke (H&R) and their  main production firm Konski & Krüger (K&K) tried throughout the war to shield as much as possible their work force from military service. However, the firms also needed more workers to cope with the increased production. Male workers were in short supply and they had to rely more and more on female workers and soldiers that were ordered to help with the production. There is also some indication that in 1942 K&K were allowed to employ foreign workers. Previously this had not been done due to the security involved with the Enigma production. These workers were probably forced labour from some of the European countries Germany had occupied. There is no indication that any concentration camp prisoners were directly used in the Enigma production, but some of the subcontractors used concentration camp prisoners. 

I have not tried to trace the personal histories of any of these workers, but as far as I can tell they were all of German descent. If anybody has some more information on any of these people I would be more than happy to learn more about them. These workers are not all of the people who built the Enigma. The lists I have are only of workers that were employed in the main Enigma factory, Konski & Krüger  at Chausseestrasse 117, Berlin-Charlottenburg.

19 March 1930. The workers engaged in building Enigma II — the big printing Enigma machine, Enigma H. It concerned the Reichswehr order for the machines H 201 to  H 210.

1. Frau Hedwig Berndt, Neu-Lichtenberg, Eitelstrasse 55a
               Wiring of the cipher wheels.
2. Felix Larson, Mechaniker, Schöneberg, Kolonnenstrasse 45
               Subassemblies.
3. Richard Pohl, Mechaniker, Charlottenburg, Havelstrasse 7
               Wiring of the transport wheels.
4. Max Reichenbach, Mechaniker, Berlin, Böttgerstrasse 24
               Last adjustments, control and registration of the machines.
5. Alfred Recke, Mechaniker, Berlin, Raumerstrasse 34
               Subassemblies.
6. Herbert Siewert, Mechaniker, Bln.-Neukölln, Walterstrasse 8/9
               Electrical circuit control and total assembly of the machines.
7. Paul Sternkopf, Mechaniker, Berlin, Reichenbergerstrasse 74a
               Subassemblies.
8. Hans Schneider, Mechaniker, Kremmen, Ruppinerchaussee
               Subassemblies.

06 October 1931. Workers in the factory rooms of our fabrication firm Konski & Krüger, Berlin N.4, Chausseestrasse 117. Concerning: Nr. 86.6.31 Na B 1 IIb, order no. 12523 of 04.07.1931.

Abendroth	Erich	Eichwalde	Kaiser-Friedrich. 11
Aethner	Herbert	Mahlow	Fliederweg
Berndt	Hedwig	Neu-Lichtenberg	Eitelstr. 55a
Deul	Hans	Borsigwalde	Siedlung Stadtpark
Gabron	Otto	Frohnau	Barbarossastr. 31
Göricke	Erna	Berlin	Stettinerstr. 30
Hartwig	Liesbeth	Berlin	Spenerstr. 18
Jaworski	Franziska	Berlin	Koppenstr. 8
Kaufmann	Eberhard	Berlin N.	Ackerstr. 54
Kriegel	Edmund	Berlin	Chodowieckistr. 17
Lotze	Erich	Berlin	Kopernikusstr. 33
Musolf	Elise	Berlin	Bergstrasse 18
Müller	Otto	Berlin-Pankow	Wollankstr. 4a
Myohl	Robert	Berlin	Leuthenstr. 18
Niclas	Eugen	Berlin-Neukölln	Steinmetzstr. 79
Paesler	Rudolf	Berlin-Tempelhof	Schönburgstr. 5
Pigard	Gertrud	Berlin-Neukölln	Böhmischestr. 16
Pohl	Richard	Berlin-Grünewald	Hubertusallee 43
Recke	Alfred	Berlin N	Raumerstr. 34
Reichenbach	Max	Berlin N.	Böttgerstr. 24
Runge	Otto	Berlin N	Chausseestr. 90
Schulz	Paul	Berlin	Perlebergerstr. 50
Siewert	Herbert	Berlin-Neukölln	Walterstr. 8/9
Strutz	Rosa	Berlin N.	Gartenstr. 66
Tümpel	Frieda	Berlin	Britzerstr. 10

11 May 1932. Workers in the factory rooms of our fabrication firm Konski & Krüger, Berlin N.4, Chausseestrasse 117. Concerning: Nr. 503.2.32 Na B 1 IIb, order no. 12596/31 of 17.03.1932. This concerns an order for 100 Enigma I, Ch 11 f, Heeres Enigma machines.

Abendroth	Erich	Eichwalde	Wienerstr. 7
Berndt	Hedwig	Neu-Lichtenberg	Eitelstr. 55a
Budach	Anna	Friedrichsfelde	Alt-Friedrichsf. 25
Hanke	Kurt	Berlin	Gr. Frankfurterstr. 12
Musolf	Elise	Berlin	Bergstrasse 18
Pohl	Richard	Berlin-Grünewald	Hubertusallee 43
Rathke	Klara	Berlin	Müllerstrasse 168
Recke	Alfred	Berlin N	Raumerstr. 34
Reichenbach	Max	Berlin N.	Böttgerstr. 24
Siewert	Herbert	Berlin-Neukölln	Walterstr. 8/9
Steinhöfel	Maria	Berlin	Heckmann Ufer 2

24 May 1933. Workers in the factory rooms of our fabrication firm Konski & Krüger, Berlin N.4, Chausseestrasse 117. Concerning: Nr. 68.2.33 Na B 1 IIb, order no. 12590/32. This concerns an order for 182 Enigma I, Ch 11 f, Heeres Enigma machines.

Berndt	Hedwig	Neu-Lichtenberg	Eitelstr. 55a
Larshon	Felix	Berlin	Goltzstrasse 26
Musolf	Elise	Berlin	Bergstrasse 18
Pohl	Richard	Berlin-Grünewald	Potsdamerstr.  70
Rost	Joh.	Hoppegarten	Siedel. Birkenstein Parzelle 137
Reichenbach	Max	Berlin N.	Böttgerstr. 24
Siewert	Herbert	Berlin-Neukölln	Walterstr. 8/9

Furthermore, we have newly employed two engineers in our technical office in Steglitzerstrasse 2. The two engineers

Schiele	Reinhold	Berlin-Neukölln	Wildenbruchstr. 91
Schröder	Willi	Bln.-Charlottenburg	Schlüterstrasse 25

are employed as part designers.

28 June 1934. Additional workers employed in the factory rooms of our fabrication firm Konski & Krüger, Berlin N.4, Chausseestrasse 117. 

Bailleu	Selma	Spandau	Ondenarderstr. 26
Biczkowski	Max	Schönow	Lessingstrasse 32
Frass	Eugen	Berlin	Gottschedstrasse 41
Konrad	Wilhelm	Berlin	Driesenerstrasse 30
Kraus	Martin	Spandau	Wehnelt Steig 6
Rost	Johannes	Dahlwitz-Hoppegarten	Siedlung Birkenstein Mittelstrasse 137
Staar	Hermann	Wittenau	Oranienburgerstrasse 219
Timmler	Willi	Lichtenberg	Scharnweberstr. 61

These workers are all from the pre-war years and we do not know how long they continued to work with the Enigma machines or being employed by Konski & Krüger. In fact we know very little about these workers exact duties. As previously mentioned Max Reichenbach was H&R's old mechanics and as such he was a highly esteemed and trusted person. Two other persons who were highly trusted were Mrs. Hedwig Berndt and Miss. Rosa Strutz. Both were working on the 4th. floor of K&K where the secret work of wiring the Enigma wheels were done. They were among the very few people who had access to the real Enigma secrets, the secret wheel wirings. Another important worker was Herbert Siewert who later got more important responsibilities at K&K.

There probably were many more people involved with the Enigma production at K&K. Other people that are sometimes mentioned are the mechanic Krah and a female worker named Johanna Kliche. They are both mentioned in July 1938 and Johanna Kliche is said to have worked at K&K for many years responsible for individual acceptance tests of the machines.

As already mentioned, during the war K&K had some difficulties in keeping their workforce intact. An example of this is the note from September 1940 that explains that they have lost two of their mechanics, Gerhard Wuttke and Erich H. Gerhard Wuttke, who was born in 1920, was called up for war service in the Army while Erich H. had volunteered for several years of service in the SS.

It is my hope that perhaps we will be able to learn something more about these people who built the Enigma machines. Their own histories they probably carried with them to their graves, but perhaps did they nevertheless tell their families something about what they did at K&K. Only the most trusted workers would have had access to the rooms on the 4th. floor where the rotors where wired and the machines were assembled and tested, but probably most of them had an idea about what they were manufacturing. Konski & Krüger made a variety of electrical equipment both for the authorities and for consumers, such as they Membra loudspeakers. Their electro-accoustic works is mentioned in this post-war B.I.O.S report. Therefore the people who manufactured the parts of the Enigma might not always have known what they were making.

Sources: Personal research notes and documents from the TICOM files T1715, T1716, T1717 and T1718 in the TICOM collection at the German Foreign Office, Bestand Rückgabe TICOM, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts, Berlin.