Upcoming / Recent Events:
Urgent Warning to Enigma Owners: Corrosion Alert
** December, 2021 – Enigma Museum provides technical support to Jared Owens for his creation of an animated video showing the inner workings of an Enigma Machine. Enjoy this 20 minute video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ybkkiGtJmkM
** Record Auction price of $441,000 USD paid for 3-rotor Enigma I machine at Sotheby’s in New York. 4/28/2021 ** Click here for details.
** Divers find Enigma machine in the Baltic Sea Dec. 2020 – Click hear for article
BREAKING NEWS
** WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DETAILING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CIA AND CRYPTO AG / BORIS HAGELIN **
February 2020 – The Washington Post published an article detailing the relationship between Boris Hagelin’s company, Crypto AG, and the intelligence services of the US and Germany. Following Hagelin’s collaboration with the US military to develop and manufacture the M-209 during WWII, Hagelin returned to Europe after the war and established Crypto AG in Switzerland to manufacture advanced cipher machines for sale worldwide. The US, fearing that Hagelin’s advanced cipher machine technologies would hinder the US in its intelligence gathering, struck a secret deal with Crypto AG in 1952. This initial arrangement limited Crypto AG from selling its most advanced technology to certain countries. This allowed the CIA to more easily read encrypted messages from these countries. The arrangement exchanged cash from the CIA for technical design and sales restrictions over Crypto AG’s products and customers. This arrangement expanded in 1970 when the CIA and Germany’s BND Intelligence agency secretly bought Crypto AG from Boris Hagelin. The joint ownership of Crypto AG lasted for decades and allowed the US and Germany unprecedented access to secret communications from more than 62 countries around the world and the United Nations. The arrangement lasted from 1970 through 2017 when the Crypto AG assets were sold off. The Washington Post article was compiled with assistance from Marc Simons and Paul Reuvers (www.cryptomuseum.com).
Link to Washington Post Article ‘The intelligence coup of the century’
Past Events:
The 7th annual Enigma Forum will again be held at the Friedrichshafen Ham Radio Festival on June 21-23, 2019. We will again be hosting 10 tables of cipher machines, spy equipment, and other related equipment. Our fellow historians, collectors, and enthusiasts will be joining us for a series of lectures and demonstrations on Friday afternoon and throughout the event at our tables. http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/
Another interesting auction to share: Bonhams will be offering a number of interesting WWII spy devices and cipher machines in their “Voices of the Twentieth Century” auction on December 6, 2017. Lots 1225 through 1265 include a number of interesting WWII and Cold War artifacts related to the war, spies, and codes. Lot 1260 is a Soviet M-125 Fialka cipher machine. The M-125 Fialka was used from the mid-1950s into the 1990s by all Warsau Pact countries and Soviet ally Cuba. Very few of these secret code machines survived “demilitarization” at the end of the Cold War.
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24254/lot/1260/…
Upcoming Auction of an M4 4-rotor Kriegsmarine Enigma machine at Southeby’s auction house. This M4 Enigma was used by the German U-boat forces during WWII and is from the estate of noted Enigma historian Dr. David Hamer. This auction contains other WWII and Cold War-era cipher machines. This auction is being held on December 12, 2017. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/history-of-science-technology-n09686/lot.67.html
** Oliver Stone Movie – “Snowden” released September 16, 2016.
Good news for anyone interested in crypto, security, privacy, mass surveillance and movies. American film director Oliver Stone has just released his latest movie called ‘Snowden’. The film features NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) before, during and after leaking secrets about the NSA’s mass surveillance program. Seen as a traitor by some and as a hero by others, Snowden began to question the legality of the mass surveillance program whilst working at the CIA office in Geneva (Switzerland). Our friends at Cryptomuseum.com supplied the vast majority of cipher and spy gadgets that are visible in the movie. There is even a complete cipher museum headed by an NSA agent played by Nicolas Cage. This movie is arguably one of the best and most important movies made by Oliver Stone in years. It should not be missed. Visit Cryptomuseum.com for extensive information about code machines, clandestine radios, and other spy gear.
** Dr. Thomas Perera will be giving a lecture at the Radio Club Of America’s 2016 Technical Symposium in New York City on November 18, 2016.
Founded in 1909, the Radio Club of America is the oldest, most prestigious group of wireless communications professionals in the world, with members across the globe. Its members are dedicated to the wireless art and science for the betterment of society. Dr. Perera will be discussing the history of the Enigma machine and related topics. http://radioclubofamerica.org/
** Dr. Thomas Perera is mentioned in a news report on the MIT flea market in Boston.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/mit-s-flea-market-specializes-in-rare-obscure-electronics-1.3088399
** Enigma Museum hosted the Fourth Annual Friedrichshafen ENIGMA FORUM last June in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
To see pictures and a description of this year’s Enigma Forum, please visit the following link: http://EnigmaMuseum.com/fhfn2016/
Enigma Museum will be hosting the Fifth Annual Enigma Forum in Friedrichshafen, Germany on July 14-16, 2017. We will be joined by collectors and historians from around the world and will have a display of cipher equipment in the exhibit hall and be presenting a seminar. For more information: www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.com
** UPDATE: On Monday, April 13, 2015, Bonhams sold an Enigma machine at auction for $269,000 USD (including buyers premium).
This represents a record price for a 3-rotor Enigma at auction. The auction also featured a notebook belonging to Alan Turing. The notebook sold for more than $1 million USD. ORIGINAL POST: An original Alan Turing notebook from his days working at Bletchley Park is being auctioned at Bonhams on Monday, April 13, 2015. In addition to the notebook, a very fine 3-rotor Enigma machine is also being offered for sale. https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22795/
** Enigma Museum exhibited a 3-rotor Heeres Enigma at the Ohio Valley Military Society’s annual Show of Shows in Louisville, KY. We shared exhibiting space with the Museum of World War 2 which is located in Natick, MA.
** Dr. Thomas Perera (right) presents a copy of his book “Inside Enigma” to author David Kahn at the Charlotte International Cryptologic Symposium in March, 2014.
** Christie’s auction house held an on-line auction of Enigma machines and other antique cipher equipment, “CODE BREAKERS: ENIGMAS AND OTHER CIPHER MACHINES”. The auction ended on December 3, 2014 with a record breaking $300,000 USD price (before buyer’s commission) paid for an M4 4-rotor Kriegsmarine Enigma.
** We would like to thank The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, MO, for exhibiting Enigma Museum’s Russian M-125 Fialka cipher machine as well as our Russian spy Burst Encoder at its exhibit on the Cold War, “Spies, Lies, and Paranoia: Americans in Fear.” The exhibit was a success and ran through October 26, 2014 and has concluded. For more information about this important museum, click here: Harry S. Truman Library and Museum
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