Emily Anderson is one the least known figures in history. She is most known for breaking Nazi code during World War II. Her work flew under the radar for decades, but it helped change the world and impacted history in a massive way.
Anderson was born in Galway, Ireland, on March 17, 1891. She was the daughter of Alexander Anderson, who served as the president
of a university.
She was a music professor and was fluent in several languages. She studied at the Universities of Berlin and Marburg in Germany before being employed by the British Foreign Office in England. She pursued her interests in music history and biography.
Early in her career, she became a professor at Queen's College in Barbados, where she taught French, and the
National University of Ireland, University College in Galway, where she taught
German.
During World War II, she worked in Bletchley Park, a top-secret
center that focused on decoding ciphers. Anderson specialized in decoding
German diplomatic ciphers. Her work exposed Nazi operations and foiled access
plans across Europe. She also served as a spy during this time.
Aside from her work decoding ciphers, she was fluent in several
languages. This led her to translating the letters of Beethoven and Mozart. This
work was published in three volumes for each composer’s correspondence. She
received the 1961 German Order of Merit for her Beethoven translations.
In 1961, Anderson was interviewed by the BBC. During this
interview, she revealed some signs of her codebreaking endeavors, especially as
it pertained to the translation of the letters. In the interview, she used the
word “crib” to describe her methodology, which was telling of her other career.
Anderson died on October 26, 1962, in London, England at the
age of 71. To this day, the Royal Philharmonic awards the International Emily
Anderson Prize each year to young violinists. Her codebreaking story was revealed
in “Queen of Codes,” which was the first time anyone had heard her story.
While she is not widely known, her successes as a codebreaker led her to expose Nazi operations, which changed the course of history.
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