Jan Graliński

Who was Jan Graliński?

Jan Józef Graliński was chief of the Polish General Staff's interbellum Cipher Bureau's Russian section, B.S.-3.

After Poland was overrun by the Germans and Soviets in September 1939, Graliński managed, along with other Cipher Bureau personnel, to reach Paris, France. He became part of the reconstituted Polish cryptologic unit that was housed during the "Phony War" in the Château de Vignolles, codenamed PC Bruno, at Gretz-Armainvillers, some forty kilometers northeast of Paris.

After northern France was overrun by German forces in May–June 1940, Graliński was one of the Polish cryptologic team that operated at Cadix in southern, Vichy France's "Free Zone."

Graliński perished in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Balearic Islands, on January 9, 1942. He was returning to the Cadix center, near Uzès in southern France, from a stint at Cadix's branch office at the Château Couba on the outskirts of Algiers. His passenger ship, the Lamoricière, sank in unclear circumstances.