About The Enigma

The Enigma is a World War II cryptography 'engine' that was used by German Military members to encode transmissions. The Deutsches Museum suggests that between 100,000 and 200,000 units were made during the the WWII period. The inventor was ostensibly Arthur Scherbius (1878-1929) who filed the patent on the early device, and first used the name "Enigma". Further refinements were made later. The cypher was broken initially by Polish researchers just before the war, and later, with their help, the more complex 4 rotor machine was cracked at the historic Bletchley Park facility in Britain.

This site doesn't pretend to be an authoritative history of the fascinating machine, rather visit this Wikipedia Link for one of the better overviews of everything you'd likely want to know.

How many units remain? Surely many were destroyed during the war but between museums and private collectors there are still many about. This Web list (Blist?) attempts to capture some of those numbers so that interested people can see the units in person.

If this effort is really successful, it will hopefully highlight a place for most people to see a machine on their own continent - hopefully not too far away. There is also this resource, a list of known surviving units that provides some indication of how many units are out there still.

Thanks for the suggestions coming in from various places. I'm not super quick at incorporating them all into this list, but will get to it. And thanks for the emails!

Finally, please note that this list also does not purport to be an exhaustive list of all the Enigma machines remaining (not even close!) but rather seeks to highlight places where you can go and see one. Why not see them all and tell me about how many frequent flyer miles you've got!

-RK

The Enigma Register - Web List

19 Places to See an Enigma (and counting)

• Military Communications and Electronics Museum Kingston, ON, Canada
  
  • Enigma Picture
  
  
  • Four Rotor M4 Unit S/N M16630
  
  
  • Location information
  
  


• Computer History Museum Mountainview, Ca. USA
  
  • Picture
    
  • Three Rotor Unit
    
  • Location information
  
  
  
• NSA National Cryptologic Museuem Ft. Meade, Md, USA
  
  • Picture and Group Shot
    
  • Seven units including Three and Four Rotor Units
    
  • Location Info Any additional info about the unit(s) on display would be appreciated.
    
  
  
  
• Deutsches Museum Munich, Germany
  
  • A Nice Picture and some background
    
  • Two (Army) three rotor and one (naval)four rotor units
    
  • Location and vistor info
    
  
  
  
• Bletchley Park Museum Bletchley, UK
  
  • Picture
    
  • A Four Rotor G312

    Apparently one of only either 2 or 3 in the world depending which article you read

    It was stolen but apparently recovered

    -see the BBC article
    

  • Location
    
  
  
  
• Royal Naval Museum Portsmouth, England/UK
  
  • Picture and Description
    
  • A four rotor unit
    
  • Location & Visit info
    
  
  
  
• Australian War Memorial Canberra, Australia
  
  • Picture and background (scroll down half way into article)
    
  • A four rotor unit
    
  • Location & Visit info
    
  
  
  
• Stevenage Museum Stevenage, England/UK
  
  • No Picture found yet
    
  • Is it a three or four rotor unit?
    
  • If you're nearby, visit (location info) and let me know!
    
  
  
  
• Berlin Communications Museum Berlin, Germany
  (Museum für Kommunikation)
  
  • I think that this picture is that one.
    
  • Not certain what model is there (anyone know?)
    
  • Location
    
  
  
  
• Museum of World War II 20min west of Boston, USA
  
  • No Images available
    
  • Apparenlty 5 Enigma machines. They suggest they have a 10 Rotor (!) unit of which only 5 exist. Likely not an actual 'Engima' branded unit, but perhaps an interesting piece of cryptographic history none the less.
    
  • Location? It is a private museum, to which public visits are supposedly possible on request. Contact them for details.
    
  
  
  
• Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum Hatteras, NC, USA
  
  • No Picture Available
    
  • A four rotor unit that divers illegally lifted from the sunken U-85, but was later granted on loan to this museum by the German government.
    
  • Location? Details
    
  
  
  
• Museum of Science and Industry's "U-505 Submarine" Chicago, IL, USA
  
  • Photo of units
    
  • Appears to be two - four rotor units.
    
  • Location & Directions
    
  
  
  
• "Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms" London, UK
  
  • Just stumbled across this one on a recent visit to London. It's centrally located (if that means anything in London) just a stone's throw from the big tourist sites.
    
  • I have a photo of unit surreptitiously taken during my walk through - I'll link it up here when I get a chance. Oh wait a minute - as usual, Flickr has a picture of everything - click here Or here's another angle of the same unit.
    
  • This is a three rotor unit in the Churchill Museum that resides in the war rooms complex. The serial number wasn't visible.
    
  • Location & Directions
    
  
  
  
• "Imperial War Museum" London, UK
  
  • A suggestion from an email from Mark earlier this year. He also points out specifically though that this isn't the "Imperial War Museum North".
    
  • There's a picture on their website - here
    
  • It's a three rotor unit.
    
  • Museum Location & Directions
    
  
  
  
• "Science Museum" London, UK
  
  • Also from Mark, the Science Museum in South Kensington has a unit on display".
    
  • Some great pictures on their website
    
  • It's a another three rotor unit.
    
  • Visit them if you're in the neighbourhood, as I was a couple of weeks ago and didn't remember to do!Museum Location & Directions
    



• "Sikorsky Museum" London, UK
  
  • Can't find much information about this museum. Perhaps drop me a note if you can direct me to something more, and confirm the presence of a Polish replica unit here. Not strictly the sort of unit I'd note on this list, but the Pole's role in cracking the code was so significant it sounds like an interesting connection.
    
  • A tourism site provides a Museum Location Map



• "Royal Signals Museum" Blandford, UK and" Military Intelligence Museum at Chicksands" Bedfordshire, UK.
  
  • Another suggestion from an email, indicates the Signals museum. It seems to be affiliated with the Chicksands Museum as well, but I need to do a bit more reading. Not sure if they share the same unit or if there are separate exhibits. These are both parts of the British Army museums.
    
  • Here's a link for the Museum at Chicksands and here's one for the Signals Museum
    
  • Directions to the Chicksands museum on the previous link above,and to Signals Museum, Bedford, here
  
  
  
• "German Occupation Museum" Guernsey, UK
  
  • Sounds like a small but interesting museum, in a slightly out-of-the-way place. Hence its occupation during WWII. Again, thanks to a note from Mark to point this one out.
    
  • The Channel Islands Occupation Society has Museum Information here
  
  
  
• "39-45 Living History Society" Various Places, UK
  
  • This is a bit different. You'll have to chase this one around the UK. Thanks to a note from Les who owns a 3 rotor model, he and his compatriots travel about to re-enact historic events of the WWII period. Check their website for a spot near you, if you live in Britain, or will be visiting. Sounds like a much more up-close and personal opportunity.
    
  • The Society's web site is located here Follow the "Diary" link at the top of the page for upcoming dates.



• Technisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
  
  • Thanks for the note from Mirko at the Museum, you can visit to see a 3 rotor Enigma machine on permanent display.
    
  • Follow this link for the museum's website
    
  • Visitor information is available here. including how to find the museum at 212 Mariahilferstr.
    
  • Mirko also mentions a related background CD-Rom produced by Innsbruck publishers. Called "Breaking the Enigma," an excerpt sounded interesting. Contact them for more info, or likely it's at the museum too. Nice to see a museum that acknowledges the device beyond just a simple display.

...let me know if you know of other enigmas not in my list yet. Also, if you have seen one of these displays, do let me know either through a comment or an email. It's nice to confirm that one is actually at each of these sites, some of which are less prominent than others.

Email me at: rossgk (at) gmail (dot) com