Bletchley Park Week 2023: 'The Bletchley Park Codebreakers: In their own words'

Kellogg had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Joel Greenberg to College for the launch of his book, 'The Bletchley Park Codebreakers: In Their Own Words'.

The book tells the story of Bletchley Park through countless letters written by key players to former colleagues and loved ones, both during the war and in the years that followed. Having intercepted millions of German communications, the codebreakers had felt bound by the Official Secrets Act, and said little about their wartime activities - some who stayed on at GCHQ after the war were concerned that speaking out could jeopardise their pensions.

Over one hundred letters that were either recovered from family members or declassified by GCHQ, are included in this volume. In contrast to many accounts which draw on official or sanctioned material, they reveal fresh information about the clandestine operations and disclose the true feelings of the participants at Bletchley Park. The book lays bare the day-to-day experiences at Bletchley Park and uncovers the operational and technical reasons behind the organisation's successes and failures.

The talk was chaired by Sir David Brown, Chair of the Bletchley Park Trust and Kellogg Bletchley Park and Bynum Tudor Fellow, and was part of our annual Bletchley Park Week programme of events celebrating a partnership between Oxford and Bletchley Park. This year's event was entitled 'Oxford, British universities, and the Second World War: Intelligence and Beyond'