Fetterlein was born in St Petersburg, the son of Karl Fedorovich Fetterlein, a German-language tutor, and Olga Fetterlein, née Meier.[1] He studied a variety of eastern languages at the University of St Petersburg, graduating in 1894. On 25 November 1896 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[1] He eventually became the chief cryptologist for the Tsar of Russia,[4] holding the rank of "General-Admiral," an honorary title in Tsarist Russia.[5] During World War I, he was known for a time as Ernst Popov as his German-derived name could have drawn unwanted attention.[6] Amongst others, he solved German, Austrian and British codes.[5]
Upon the Russian Revolution of 1917, he fled to Western Europe with his wife on board a Swedish ship, narrowly evading capture.[5] He contacted the British and French intelligence organisations, offering to work for whoever would pay him the most, which was apparently the British, as he was recruited to Room 40 in June 1918[5] to work on Georgian, Austrian and Bolshevik codes. After the end of World War I, he worked for the successor to Room 40, the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), becoming a senior assistant on 17 December 1919.[1] During this time he worked on Soviet Communist traffic.[7] He was thought well of by his colleagues, one of whom wrote, "He was a brilliant cryptographer. On book cipher and anything else where insight was vital he was quite the best. He was a fine linguist and would usually get an answer no matter the language."[5] He retired in 1938.[3] His brother, P. K. Fetterlein, also worked for GC&CS.[5]
Fetterlein came out of retirement during World War II to assist GC&CS's diplomatic section at Berkeley Street. He worked on "Floradora", a German diplomatic code.[8]
Referencesedit
^ abcdVictor Madeira, "`Because I Don't Trust Him, We are Friends': Signals Intelligence and the Reluctant Anglo-Soviet Embrace, 1917-24", Intelligence & National Security 19(1), March 2004, pp. 29–51.
^"Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^ abRalph Erskine, Internet post 2006-05-07 at the Wayback Machine to Intelligence Forum, 11 October 2004
ernst, fetterlein, ernst, constantin, fetterlein, april, 1873, june, 1944, russian, cryptographer, later, defected, britain, fetterlein, born, petersburg, karl, fedorovich, fetterlein, german, language, tutor, olga, fetterlein, née, meier, studied, variety, ea. Ernst Constantin Fetterlein 3 April 1873 1 June 1944 2 3 was a Russian cryptographer who later defected to Britain Fetterlein was born in St Petersburg the son of Karl Fedorovich Fetterlein a German language tutor and Olga Fetterlein nee Meier 1 He studied a variety of eastern languages at the University of St Petersburg graduating in 1894 On 25 November 1896 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1 He eventually became the chief cryptologist for the Tsar of Russia 4 holding the rank of General Admiral an honorary title in Tsarist Russia 5 During World War I he was known for a time as Ernst Popov as his German derived name could have drawn unwanted attention 6 Amongst others he solved German Austrian and British codes 5 Upon the Russian Revolution of 1917 he fled to Western Europe with his wife on board a Swedish ship narrowly evading capture 5 He contacted the British and French intelligence organisations offering to work for whoever would pay him the most which was apparently the British as he was recruited to Room 40 in June 1918 5 to work on Georgian Austrian and Bolshevik codes After the end of World War I he worked for the successor to Room 40 the Government Code and Cypher School GC amp CS becoming a senior assistant on 17 December 1919 1 During this time he worked on Soviet Communist traffic 7 He was thought well of by his colleagues one of whom wrote He was a brilliant cryptographer On book cipher and anything else where insight was vital he was quite the best He was a fine linguist and would usually get an answer no matter the language 5 He retired in 1938 3 His brother P K Fetterlein also worked for GC amp CS 5 Fetterlein came out of retirement during World War II to assist GC amp CS s diplomatic section at Berkeley Street He worked on Floradora a German diplomatic code 8 References edit a b c d Victor Madeira Because I Don t Trust Him We are Friends Signals Intelligence and the Reluctant Anglo Soviet Embrace 1917 24 Intelligence amp National Security 19 1 March 2004 pp 29 51 Index entry FreeBMD ONS Retrieved 19 September 2022 a b Ralph Erskine Internet post Archived 2006 05 07 at the Wayback Machine to Intelligence Forum 11 October 2004 Stephen Budiansky Battle of Wits 2000 ISBN 0 670 88492 8 p 56 a b c d e f Michael Smith GC amp CS and the First Cold War pp 1 40 in Action This Day 2001 ISBN 0 593 04982 9 Thomas R Hammant Russian and Soviet cryptology II the Magdeburg incident The Russian view in Cryptologia October 2000 David Kahn Seizing the Enigma 1991 ISBN 0 09 978411 4 p 85 Budiansky 2000 p 219 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ernst Fetterlein amp oldid 1144410760, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
