Erich Hüttenhain

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Erich Hüttenhain
Erich Hüttenhain
Born26 January 1905 (1905-01-26)
Siegen
Died26 January 1990(1990-01-26) (aged 85)
Brühl
NationalityGerman
EducationUniversity of Münster
Occupationcryptologist

Erich Hüttenhain (26 January 1905 in Siegen – 1 December 1990 in Brühl) was a German academic mathematician and cryptographer (Cryptography) and considered a leading cryptanalyst in the Third Reich.[1] He was Head of the cryptanalysis unit at OKW/Chi, the Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht.[2][3]

Life[edit]

Hüttenhain was the son of a Conrector and studied after the high school diploma (German: Abitur) 1924 in Siegen at the University of Marburg, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt and the University of Münster. He studied mathematics with Heinrich Behnke and astronomy at Münster. There he was assistant to Martin Lindow (1880–1967), who was director of the observatory at Münster. In 1933, at the University of Münster, he took his examination for promotion of Dr. phil. in astronomy under Lindow with the thesis titled: Spatial infinitesimal orbits around the libration points in the straight-line case of the (3 + 1) bodies.[4]

Military career[edit]

In 1936, he was sent to the cipher bureau of the OKW OKW/Chi under Director Min.Rat. Wilhelm Fenner. Erich Hüttenhain had an interest in Mayan chronology which led him to cryptology and thus to OKW/CHi. As a recruitment test, Fenner had sent him a message which had been enciphered with a private cipher. Hüttenhain duly deciphered it and was accepted as a possible cryptanalyst.[5] At OKW/Chi he was employed as a specialist to build a cryptanalytic research unit, and later he was most recently Executive Council Head of group IV Analytical cryptanalysis.

During his time in OKW/Chi he succeeded, among other things, in the deciphering of the Japanese Purple cipher machine (William Frederick Friedman)[6] He and his staff [7] also temporarily succeeded in deciphering American rotary machines, such as the M 138 A and the M-209[8] in North Africa. Later in the war, when the allies invaded Italy, the allies learned in turn by deciphering Italian ciphers that their later systems, e.g. among others the SIGABA designed by Friedman, had not been broken and around that time, Hüttenhain had no more major successes.

After World War II, being a high value target, he was taken by TICOM to the USA to be interrogated.[9] For the Americans, he built a machine (which was already used by the Germans during World War II) that deciphered the Russian rotor machine encryption.[10] He also created reports on the successes of the Germans on cryptographic territory during World War II (as deciphering the French naval codes, the Polish diplomat cipher and the security of the Enigma).

Gehlen organisation[edit]

After his return he founded in 1947 the "Study Group for Scientific Investigation" (German: Studiengesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Arbeiten)[11] within the Gehlen Organization, which laid the foundation for the subsequent formation of the German Central Office for Encryption (German: Zentralstelle für das Chiffrierwesen) (ZfCh), a unit of the German Federal Intelligence Service (German: Bundesnachrichtendienst).[12][13] His pseudonym in the Gehlen organization was Erich Hammerschmidt.[14] In the first official cryptographic service of the Federal Government, the Unit 114 in the Foreign Ministry, headed by Adolf Paschke[15] founded in 1950, he was the chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, along with Kurt Selchow, Rudolf Schauffler, and Heinz Kuntze, some of the best cryptologists in Germany.[12] During 1956–1970 he served as Deputy Director of the Central Office for Encryption where initially Wilhelm Göing and 1972 Otto Leiberich was his successor. One of the objectives of Hüttenhain was that in contrast to his experiences in the Third Reich where numerous independent cipher bureaux were spread throughout the Reich, all threads for evaluating cryptographic procedures were now to be integrated into a single office.

In 1926 he was a founding fellow of the Frankfurt Burschenschaft Arminia .[16]

Hüttenhain left a posthumous manuscript he wrote in about 1970 and in which he reports on his experience as a cryptologist.[17]

Literature[edit]

  • Bauer, Friedrich L. (June 2008), "Erich Hüttenhain: Entzifferung 1939–1945" [Erich Hüttenhain: Deciphering 1939–1945], Informatik-Spektrum (in German), 31 (3): 249–261, doi:10.1007/s00287-008-0242-4, S2CID 30040267
  • Bauer, Friedrich L. (2009), "Erich Hüttenhain: Entzifferung 1939–1945", Historische Notizen zur Informatik [Historical notes on computer science] (in German), Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 385–401, doi:10.1007/978-3-540-85790-7, ISBN 978-3-540-85789-1(with a photograph of E. Hüttenhain on p. 388){{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Leiberich, Otto (2001), Vom Diplomatischen Code zur Falltürfunktion – 100 Jahre Kryptographie in Deutschland, Spektrum Dossier Kryptographie (with a photograph of E. Hüttenhain).
  • van der Meulen, Michael (1996), "Cryptology in the early Bundesrepublik", Cryptologia, 20 (3): 202–222, doi:10.1080/0161-119691884915

Publications[edit]

  • E. Hüttenhain (1933), "Räumliche infinitesimale Bahnen um die Librationspunkte im Geradlinien-Fall der (3+1)-Körper", Astronomische Nachrichten (in German), 250 (18): 297–316, Bibcode:1933AN....250..297H, doi:10.1002/asna.19332501802
  • Erich Hüttenhain (1974), Die Geheimschriften des Fürstbistums Münster unter Christoph Bernhard von Galen 1650 – 1678 [The secret codes of the prince-bishopric Münster under Christoph Bernhard von Galen 1650 – 1678], Schriften der Historischen Kommission Westfalens (in German), vol. 9, Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, ISBN 3-402-05609-7

References[edit]

  1. ^ Friedrich L. Bauer (12 December 2008). Historische Notizen zur Informatik. Springer-Verlag. pp. 388–. ISBN 978-3-540-85790-7.
  2. ^ David Joyner (6 December 2012). Coding Theory and Cryptography: From Enigma and Geheimschreiber to Quantum Theory. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 33. ISBN 978-3-642-59663-6.
  3. ^ "I-2 Interrogation of Erich Hüttenhain and Dr Fricke at Flensburg". Google Drive. 21 May 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  4. ^ Hüttenhain, E. (January 1933). "Räumliche infinitesimale Bahnen um die Librationspunkte im Geradlinien‐Fall der (3+1)‐Körper". Astronomische Nachrichten. 250 (18): 297–316. doi:10.1002/asna.19332501802.
  5. ^ Bauer Historical notes on computer science, Springer 2009 S.388, with photo
  6. ^ Leiberich, Scientific American, June 1999 and plus there is to Leiberich in Germany but no documents
  7. ^ "Cipher Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht#German Mathematicians Who Worked at OKW" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 July 2016. Web. 11 July 2016.
  8. ^ Schmeh, Klaus (23 September 2004). "Als deutscher Code-Knacker im Zweiten Weltkrieg (As a German code breaker during World War II)". Heise Online. Telepolis, Heise Zeitschriften Verlag. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  9. ^ James Bamford (4 September 2008). Body Of Secrets. Random House. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4070-0920-9. It is almost certain that no major cryptoanalytic successes were achieved without his knowledge.
  10. ^ Leiberich, loc.
  11. ^ Wala, Michael (1999), "Digest of Papers: Germany and Intelligence Organizations: The Last Fifty Years in Review" (PDF), Annual Conference 1999, 18–20 June, Tutzing, Germany, International Intelligence History Association, p. 3
  12. ^ a b Matthew M. Aid; Cees Wiebes (5 November 2013). Secrets of Signals Intelligence During the Cold War: From Cold War to Globalization. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-135-28098-7.
  13. ^ Jefferson Adams (1 September 2009). Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 517. ISBN 978-0-8108-6320-0.
  14. ^ Bauer, Historical notes on computer science, S. 388
  15. ^ Friedrich L. Bauer (24 November 2006). "19.4.1.2". Decrypted Secrets: Methods and Maxims of Cryptology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 415. ISBN 978-3-540-48121-8. Of Per S Z
  16. ^ H. de Rouet: 150 years of Frankfurt-Leipziger Burschenschaft Arminia, Frankfurt 2010, p 324
  17. ^ Monographs in the field of cryptology. A copy is in the Bavarian State Library. Friedrich Bauer referenced it in his book Historical notes on computer science, Springer 2009 S. 389ff
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