André Langie
André Langie (born September 21, 1871 in Payerne , † December 30, 1961 in Lausanne ) was a Swiss librarian and cryptologist . During the First World War he was a civilian employee in the Swiss intelligence service .
Life
André Langie was the son of Polish parents who had received Swiss citizenship in Planches (today: Ormont-Dessous ) in 1869 . After completing higher education in the cantons of Vaud and Friborg , he received his doctorate in literature from the University of Lausanne .
After the outbreak of the First World War , Langie was previously declared unfit for service for medical reasons and employed as a librarian in Lausanne due to his language skills as a civilian employee in the intelligence service of the army . His area of responsibility included the decryption and translation of messages from the Imperial Russian Army . In the summer of 1915, Langie managed to decipher the secret code used by the Russian Army. After noticing that encrypted dispatches of German and Austrian origin referred directly to the secret daily bulletins of the Swiss General Staff, he suspected treason and thus started the Obersten affair .
Langie then lost his job in the intelligence service and worked again as a librarian and translator in Lausanne. His offer at the beginning of the Second World War to make himself available to the intelligence service as a cryptologist was rejected. He then worked as a translator, librarian and writer in the canton of Vaud. During his work as a translator and librarian, he is said to have worked as an officially qualified translator for 32 languages until his death.
reception
The broadcaster SRF 1 broadcast a documentary program by Hansjürg Zumstein on October 15, 2015 , which sheds light on the Obersten affair in the form of a documentary drama . Langie is portrayed by the actor Gilles Tschudi .
Publications
- De la cryptographie - étude sur les écritures secrètes. Payot , 1918.
- How did I decipher Russian and German dispatches in 1915. Self-published by Dr. A. Langie, 1944.
Web links
- Hansjürg Zumstein : A loner brings everything to light: the cryptographer André Langie. In: SRF , 2015
- Claudia Schwartz : Swiss eavesdropping. «Treason. How a Romand in the First World War saved neutrality ». In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 14, 2015
Individual evidence
- ^ Documents by and about Langie, André in the Dodis database of Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
- ↑ M. Andre Langie atteint le bel âge de 80 ans. In: Gazette de Lausanne . September 21, 1951, accessed October 5, 2016
- ↑ Hans Rudolf Fuhrer : The Danger from the West. «Colonel affair». In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . January 13, 2016
- ↑ Treason. In: SRF 1 , DOK , October 15, 2015, 51 minutes. Author: Hansjürg Zumstein
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Langie, André |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss librarian and cryptologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 21, 1871 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Payerne |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 30, 1961 |
| Place of death | Lausanne |