Rolf Noskwith
Rolf Noskwith (19 June 1919 – 3 January 2017) was a British businessman who during the Second World War worked under Alan Turing as a cryptographer at the Bletchley Park British military base.[1]
Rolf Noskwith | |
|---|---|
 Rolf Noskwith, seen here in August 2012, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. | |
| Born | 19 June 1919 |
| Died | 3 January 2017 (aged 97) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Soldier, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1941–2016 |
| Known for | Cryptography and business |
| Board member of | Charnos |
| Children | 1 |
Early life and education
Noskwith's parents, Chaim (Charles) and Malka (née Ginsberg), were Eastern European-born Jews who set up a clothing manufacturing company in Germany. Seeing that the political and economic conditions were worsening in the Weimar Republic, they sold their business and emigrated from Germany to England in 1932, along with their children.[1] The family created another textile company, Charnos, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England,[2] that would become the basis of Noskwith's post-war life. Noskwith was educated at Nottingham High School and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Service in Second World War
Initially, he was not accepted for military service, but after his third attempt, he was accepted to work as a translator and cryptographer at the Bletchley Park facility.[1] His first attempt to work as a codebreaker was turned down because of his German birth and upbringing, but it seems that the security eligibility rules were revised in May 1941 thereby enabling him to enlist.[3]
Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park
After being interviewed by C.P. Snow and Hugh Alexander, Noskwith was recruited to Bletchley Park and arrived in June 1941.[4] He worked in Hut 8, focusing on the German navy's Enigma machine, decrypting the Kriegsmarine's coded wireless traffic from 1941 to 1945,[5] and subsequently on other ciphers. He joined the crib subsection, headed by Shaun Wylie.[4] One of Noskwith's noted talents was lining up cribs with cipher text strips, to see if they matched.[3]
Noskwith's biggest accomplishment was breaking the Naval Enigma Offizier settings. He created a crib based on the letters 'EEESSSPATRONE' and had placed into cue to be crunched by Bletchley's bombe analogue computers. The letter pairings referred to colour-coding used by German ships' flares as "friend or foe" detection. When the crib worked, it allowed the Allied forces to read German messages sent to and from Kriegsmarine officers.[6]
Noskwith recalled that most people were addressed by their first name there:[7] the two exceptions were Alan Turing, known as "Prof"; and F.A. Kendrick, whom he was surprised to see listed in the index of Hinsley and Stripp's book Codebreakers as Kendrick, Tony.[8]
Later life and death
Beginning in 1946, Noskwith worked for Charnos, the textile company founded by his father, and became its chairman in 1952.[1] Around the year 2000, he was made non-executive chairman of Charnos plc.
Noskwith died on 3 January 2017, aged 97.[9][10][11] He is thought to have been the last surviving cryptographer of Bletchley Park at the time of his death. Shortly after his death, The Jewish Chronicle published a tribute to Noskwith and other Jewish codebreakers by the director of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, who described their contribution as "out of all proportion to the size of the Jewish community in Britain at the time". Noting the contribution of Jewish staff at Bletchley to the foundation of Israel after World War II he referred to Noskwith's offer of his services in 1947 to Walter Eytan, who responded "of codebreakers we have plenty!".[12]
Following Noskwith's death, a two-page mathematical manuscript handwritten by Alan Turing was found among his papers and sold at Bonhams auction house in London for £44,000 to King's College, Cambridge, Turing's former college.[13]
References
Citations
- Sugarman, Martin (2012). "Jewish Personnel at Bletchley Park in World War Two". Jewish Virtual Library. Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA: The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
- "Charnos P.L.C." Businessmagnet.co.uk. UK. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- Seberg-Montefoire (2000), p. 152.
- Noskwith (2011), p. 185.
- Seberg-Montefoire (2000), pp. 152–153.
- Seberg-Montefoire (2000), p. 153.
- Hinsley & Stripp (1993), p. 119.
- Hinsley & Stripp (1993), p. 317.
- "Jewish Bletchley Park code-breaker dies aged 97". Jewish News. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- "Jewish Bletchley Park code-breaker Rolf Noskwith dies aged 97". Israel News Online. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- "Rolf Noskwith, Bletchley Park codebreaker – obituary". Daily Telegraph. UK. 6 January 2017.
- Hannigan, Robert (26 February 2017). "The Secret Story of the Jewish codebreakers who helped win the war". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- Bowen, Jonathan P.; Copeland, B. Jack (July 2023). "A newly discovered mathematical manuscript by Alan Turing" (PDF). FACS FACTS. BCS. 2023–2: 6–9.
Bibliography
- Hinsley, F. N.; Stripp, Alan, eds. (1993). Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Toronto: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820327-6.
- Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh (2000). Enigma: The Battle for the Code. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-49035-7.
- Smith, Michael; Erskine, Ralph, eds. (2001). Action This Day – Bletchley Park – from the breaking of the Enigma Code to the birth of the modern computer. New York: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-593-04910-5.
- Noskwith, Rolf (2011). "Chapter 12: Hut 8 From the Inside". In Erskine, Ralph; Smith, Michael (eds.). The Bletchley Park Codebreakers. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-078-0. (Updated and extended version of Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer, Bantam Press, 2001.)