NEWS RELEASE
Inside story of the breaking of Hitler’s secret cipher
Launch of the Lorenz book at The National Museum of Computing
4 April 2017
Capt Jerry Roberts’ autobiography Lorenz, telling the inside story of the breaking of Hitler’s most secret cipher, has been launched
at The National Museum of Computing in the presence of veterans whose work with Colossus helped in the decrypting process.
The “unbreakable” Lorenz cipher was used to encrypt communications between Hitler and his High Command. Far more complex than Enigma, Lorenz-encoded messages carried invaluable strategic
information. The decrypts are credited with shortening the war and saving countless lives.
The Lorenz book is the autobiographical story of the life of the late Captain Jerry
Roberts and gives an in-depth personal perspective of the breaking the twelve-wheeled Lorenz cipher.
The launch was attended by some Bletchley Park veterans, their families and special guests including BBC presenter Paddy O’Connell.
Among the veterans was O’Connell’s mother Betty, who was one of the first operators of Colossus, the computer that helped break the cipher.