Bogusław Wróbel, a journalist from Poland, came across two encrypted messages dating back to the Second World War during his research. The messages date to 1944 or early 1945 and likely originated from the highest echelons of the SS. The plaintext is in German.
For a higher resolution, check here and here.
Here is a transcript of the encrypted text:
thuuokiurbhklmlie drtzhbnmcxysdfghz drtzhjitrewscxyst
poutfdcvbhwasftzy tredfgbvcvcvxytrf bhztredcxcfhmnkzr
gdsrtzhhjkuedyncs zhbvbnjhfgressycxde ztredfvcvnhgdxyde
zhjklopuzrvbnjhes ztrvcfcfybxyujklo edcvgtzujewstzbvx
tzhbvcfcscxdcykds zcxxyscztvxcxffko sdretzhbvcvyxdtvb
poioprfgbfriideby iuzuikvcfsxcfrtsa rfghzujiurfdcxysc
xfrfewswiuzhgnkmd raserfdcxxfgdfuam wsxcderfvukjhbmxc
fftgewsaaycsychzr uztghbnmfdretzucy etziojhbnxcxsyfss
srsrttzdeaacyblkc sdsredsyxcfgztcxc rrederfcxvgvswuht
erfztghbstdcztgzz khjijiuzjgmncewsa trfgbvzujhuedvtgh
asasdfgtrbcxxysyn dertgzhjkrcxdcssa sertfbvcxdcxysdda
eet hgfnuzzaa
UHG. Yc. 002 56543487899729654567467895453327
Ya. 009 85847334927535622768936487783252
-------------------------------------------------------1186543543434 8436861196412 87654391 Ya. 100
8341911434229 3546789654321 11956436 ------------------
6567413411545 8711453792388 87654115 00 87 55
4563871199241 6543961176711 11546532 76 72 32
2626547114711 5165438671711 54522219 65 98 39
5454571171162 1876543456567 54561311 78 56 42
6118656451922 9898787316113 18765893 45 76 49
6547198113367 547652118118654 54643181 ------------------
1156785373133 7564133218784 76567878
--------------------- ---------------------- ------------- FF ZT AA
78987651154576568 65436534387911861 65654671 RT RE IU
76119896581132884 11436576936154314 23232589 -------------------
88191435462211266 9878989511453431187 67565477
56438761153112983 23118657434111432 65742119
---------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------
The messages most likely concern the concealment of cultural assets and the securing of assets for the Third Reich’s post-war future in the territory of present-day Lower Silesia, Poland.
Bogusław discovered these sheets in the archives of the Polish Military Mission, which operated in Berlin during the post-war period. Despite their efforts, Polish intelligence services were unable to decipher them.
The encryption method remains unknown. The index of coincidence is 5,0%, which is too low for German. However, the letter frequency distribution is relatively flat, with no single letter accounting for more than 8% of the text.
Can anyone help decipher this message or identify the encryption method used?
Edited to add: I corrected the index of coincidence.
Edited to add: I added a second message.
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