Hermann Pokorny

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hermann Pokorny (1925)

Hermann Pokorny (born April 7, 1882 in Kremsier , Austria-Hungary , † February 18, 1960 in Budapest , Hungary ) was an Austro-Hungarian cryptanalyst during the First World War . His successful decipherments , in particular the breaking of the Russian ciphers of the time , contributed significantly to the victory of the Central Powers . He was a member of the Hungarian Heroes' Order Vitézi Rend .

Life

Major Pokorny in World War I (1914)

Hermann Pokorny was born in the then German-speaking Moravia as the son of a Kremsier postmaster . He was a cousin of the Polish cryptanalyst Franciszek Pokorny . In 1906 he entered the active service of the Austro-Hungarian  Army as a cadet and in 1910 came to the instruction office of the General Staff in Vienna.

During the First World War he worked in the rank of major as a cryptanalyst. He headed the Russian department of the deciphering service of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff and successfully dealt with the deciphering of Russian ciphers ( polyalphabetic substitutions similar to Vigenère with rarely changing keys and simple monoalphabetic substitutions ). For his services he was awarded the Great Military Merit Medal (gold) in 1918, now with the rank of lieutenant colonel , which was awarded to only 30 people.

After the war he found himself unwelcome in Czechoslovakia, which emerged after the break-up of Austria-Hungary , due to his German mother tongue. In the new Republic of Austria, however, he was resented by his Moravian-Czech descent. So he joined the Hungarian army and acquired Hungarian citizenship. He was able to continue his military career there and was retired in 1935 with the rank of major general . In 1945 he served again briefly in Malinowski's headquarters and received the rank of colonel general . In 1949 he finally retired.

literature

  • Peter Bakonyi (ed.); Hermann Pokorny: Emlékeim. A láthatatlan hírszerző. Memoirs. (= Sine praeteritis futura nulla - Múlt nélkül nincs jövő ). Budapest 1999, ISBN 963-9267-03-1 . ( online , at mek.iif.hu; Hungarian).
  • Günter Erik Schmidt: Lieutenant Colonel d. G. Hermann Pokorny, owner of the Great Military Merit Medal. In: Journal of the Austrian Society for Religious Orders. 36, 11/1999.

Web links

  • Photo, 1917 , Kuk war press quarter, Lichtbildstelle - Vienna (on europeana1914-1918.eu).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pokorny Hermann. Entry in Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum , pim.hu (accessed: November 12, 2015).
  2. ↑ a b c d lit .: Pokorny: Emlékeim. Preface, section Pokorny Hermann katonai előmenetele. See above (overview of the curriculum vitae; link to the section , mek.iif.hu).
  3. ^ Friedrich L. Bauer : Historical Notes on Computer Science . Springer, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-85789-1 , p. 291.
personal data
SURNAME Pokorny, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian cryptanalyst
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Kremsier
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1960
Place of death Budapest