Hans Pietsch (cryptologist)

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Hans Karl Georg Heinrich Pietsch (born  November 22, 1907 , †  October 14, 1967 in Berlin ) was a German mathematician and cryptologist . During the Second World War he headed Section  7 “Security of own procedures” within Inspection 7 Group VI (In 7 / VI), i.e. the cryptanalytical group of the Army High Command (OKH) based on Matthäikirchplatz, not far from the Bendler block in Berlin.

Life

Before the war had Hans Pietsch mathematics studied and at the Humboldt University of Berlin with Ludwig Bieberbach doctorate (title of his dissertation : "On surfaces that a bunch closed Geodetic or a pair of conjugate counter-points have"). Shortly after the beginning of the war, on November 22, 1939, he joined Group IV of the OKH (OKH / In 7 / IV). There he worked with other mathematicians, such as Carl Boehm and Friedrich Steinberg, on checking the security of his own processes , such as the Enigma machine key in particular . Shortly before, towards the end of the attack on Poland , the Wehrmacht had captured Polish documents which raised the suspicion that Enigma radio messages could have been deciphered by the Poles . (This had actually been the case for eight years, which they did not know, see also deciphering the Enigma and under web links : secret operation Wicher , Polish code name Wicher for German "storm"). In 7 / IV was therefore commissioned to examine this possibility.

Although the three had not yet had any experience as cryptanalysts , they quickly succeeded in identifying the key duplication required by OKW / Chi as a significant cryptographic weakness in the previous key procedure and in convincing the high command to turn it off. As a result, on May 1, 1940 (nine days before the start of the western campaign ), the key procedure in the army and air force was radically changed and the uncertain duplication of the key was dropped. From now on, the spell key was simply transferred.

In January 1941, the new Group VI was formed within Inspection 7 and took over the tasks of the previous Group IV. Pietsch's colleague Carl Boehm became head of Section 7 “Security of own procedures” and he himself became its deputy. After Boehm left, Hans Pietsch became head of the department in April 1941.

After the war he was captured by the Allies and sent to the civilian internment camp, Camp No. 6 (the former main camp VII A of the Wehrmacht) near Moosburg on the Isar until June 1946. Unlike many of his colleagues, he was not interrogated by the Target Intelligence Committee (TICOM) . After his release he returned to scientific work and worked for the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the Zentralblatt für Mathematik until his death .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frode Weierud and Sandy Zabell: German mathematicians and cryptology in WWII. Cryptologia, doi: 10.1080 / 01611194.2019.1600076 , pp. 18-19.
  2. ^ Army Security Agency: Notes on German High Level Cryptography and Cryptanalysis . European Axis Signal Intelligence in World War II, Vol 4, Washington (DC), 1946 (May), pp. 4-10.
  3. ↑ genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu , accessed June 7, 2019.
  4. ↑ Frode Weierud and Sandy Zabell: German mathematicians and cryptology in WWII. Cryptologia, doi: 10.1080 / 01611194.2019.1600076 , p. 15.
  5. ^ Hugh Sebag-Montefiore : Enigma - The battle for the code . Cassell Military Paperbacks, London 2004, p. 357. ISBN 0-304-36662-5 .
  6. ^ Friedrich L. Bauer: Decrypted Secrets, Methods and Maxims of Cryptology . Springer, Berlin 2007 (4th edition), p. 123, ISBN 3-540-24502-2 .
  7. ↑ Frode Weierud and Sandy Zabell: German mathematicians and cryptology in WWII. Cryptologia, doi: 10.1080 / 01611194.2019.1600076 , pp. 18-19.
personal data
SURNAME Pietsch, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pietsch, Hans Karl Georg Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician and cryptologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1907
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1967
Place of death Berlin