phl.pm was there.
-R (courtesy of /.)
"Enigma Machine Stolen"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_698000/698804.stm
Station X security
cracked
Bletchley Park: Thieves may have
struck during open day
An Enigma machine used by the
Nazis to send coded messages
during World War Two, has been
stolen from the code-cracking
Station X at Bletchley Park,
Buckinghamshire.
The machine, worth about
£100,000, is one of only three in
the world. It was brought to the UK
after the war.
It looks like an old-fashioned
typewriter, but the codes it
produced were so sophisticated the
Germans believed they were
unbreakable.
Bletchley Park Trust director
Christine Large said: "This is a
selfish act, calculated to deprive the
visitors and students at Bletchley
Park of the chance to enjoy and
appreciate a unique piece of
history."
She added: "This
is a devastating
theft and has cast
a dark cloud over
Bletchley Park.
We would liken it
to the theft of the
Cezanne at
Oxford's
Ashmolean
Museum."
Thames Valley police say the
machine was stolen on Saturday
afternoon, when the centre's
museum was open to the public.
Officers believe it was lifted from a
glass display cabinet, where it
formed the centrepiece of the main
public display.
It is feared the thieves may try to
sell the machine on the internet.
The author of the book Station X,
Michael Smith, called it a
"devastating blow", but said he did
not believe the machine had been
stolen to order.
'Beggars belief'
"The trouble someone would have in
selling this would be immense," he
said.
"I believe it's just a very stupid act
by somebody and really beggars
belief. I just hope it's returned
safely."
The site was already protected by
24 hour security guards, said Ms
Large, but work to install
state-of-the security at the site has
now been speeded up.
"The Trust will be
deeply grateful for
any information
that may lead to
the return of the
machine," she
added.
The codebreakers of Station X are
credited with shortening the war by
several years.
The top secret site employed teams
of mathematicians, linguists and
chess champions. By the end of the
war 10,000 people were working
there.
Its work was so
secret that even
after the war its
existence was not
revealed. It was
not until 1967
that details were
made public, and
some of its
former workers
later appeared on
a television
documentary
about the
station's historic achievements.
Winston Churchill had dubbed the
staff as "the geese that laid the
golden eggs, and never cackled".
The codebreakers included
mathematician Alan Turing, seen as
a genuis whose pioneering work
paved the way for modern
computers.
The site was eventually scheduled
for demolition, but a farewell party
brought together 400 codebreakers
whose stories were so fascinating it
was decided to try to save the
building instead.
Hollywood blockbuster
Not only was that goal achieved,
but the story of Station X is being
turned into a £90m Hollywood
blockbuster starring Harvey Keitel
and Jon Bon Jovi.
Rock star Mick Jagger is a Bletchley
Park enthusiast, and even owns an
Enigma machine, but of a different
type from the one stolen.
Police have appealed to any
members of the public with any
information on the machine's
whereabouts to contact them.
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