Thursday, December 4, 2014

TIME Magazine: Enigma. Poles Had Nothing To Do With It.


The Dec. 1 - Dec. 8 2014 issue of TIME magazine features three separate articles that reference Alan Turing's work on Enigma during World War II. The cover image is of Benedict Cumberbatch playing the part of Alan Turing in a new movie. Unless I missed it, none of the three articles about Turing and Enigma even mentions in passing the Poles' work on Enigma. 

If you'd like to read about the Poles' work on Enigma, you can find a guest blog post on the topic here.

2 comments:

  1. This is the first movie I have seen for years, Did not particularly want to go but Jackie and the Captain did, so I went along. It was OK. There is one mention of Poles - one sentence that went something like this: "It (Alan Turing's machine) is based on the Polish one, but much improved."

    At least there was no Polish "Nazi" villain gratuitously inserted, as I understand there was in the Hollywood version.

    The movie did distort the truth though - insofar as anyone can know what the truth about WW2 is nowadays - as it seems that Alan Turing's sexual orientation was not something he hid, it was well known to the authorities, and so there was no question of his being blackmailed into covering up for Soviet spies because of it. yet that was alleged in the movie.

    So - apart from that, Mrs Lincoln - it was - i don't know what to say about it. Benedict Cumberbatch and the young lad who played the young Alan were very good. I can say that. And Poles were not the villains!! We were not the villains!!!! For that I can give it 10 out of 10.

    ReplyDelete

Bieganski the Blog exists to further explore the themes of the book Bieganski the Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture.
These themes include the false and damaging stereotype of Poles as brutes who are uniquely hateful and responsible for atrocity, and this stereotype's use in distorting WW II history and all accounts of atrocity.
This blog welcomes comments from readers that address those themes. Off-topic and anti-Semitic posts are likely to be deleted.
Your comment is more likely to be posted if:
Your comment includes a real first and last name.
Your comment uses Standard English spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Your comment uses I-statements rather than You-statements.
Your comment states a position based on facts, rather than on ad hominem material.
Your comment includes readily verifiable factual material, rather than speculation that veers wildly away from established facts.
T'he full meaning of your comment is clear to the comment moderator the first time he or she glances over it.
You comment is less likely to be posted if:
You do not include a first and last name.
Your comment is not in Standard English, with enough errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar to make the comment's meaning difficult to discern.
Your comment includes ad hominem statements, or You-statements.
You have previously posted, or attempted to post, in an inappropriate manner.
You keep repeating the same things over and over and over again.