Intelligence Warsaw

1. 01Site of the Saxon Palace

   Warsaw · Poland · 52.24, 21.01

   In the Second Polish Republic the palace housed the General Staff (from 1928 the Main Staff), including the Second Department, responsible for military intelligence and counterintelligence, and the Cipher Bureau, whose cryptologists broke Enigma. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was unveiled in the arcades of its colonnade on 2 November 1925. The Germans blew up the palace on 27–29 December 1944.^1,2,3

   As of 7 November 2026Reconstruction is under way, run by the state-owned company Pałac Saski; fieldwork began on 18 August 2022, and the site fence is used for exhibitions.⁴

   Official website: palacsaski.pl

2. 02IEEE plaque: the first breaking of Enigma

   Warsaw · Poland · 52.22, 21.01

   An IEEE Milestone plaque dedicated on 5 August 2014 at the entrance to the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ul. Śniadeckich 8). It honours the Cipher Bureau mathematicians – Rejewski, Różycki and Zygalski – who broke the Enigma cipher and, with engineers from the AVA company, built the bomba.⁵

   As of 7 November 2026The plaque is at the entrance facing Śniadeckich Street and can be seen from the street.⁵

   Official website: ethw.org

3. 03Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom

   Warsaw · Poland · 52.22, 21.02

   During the German occupation the building at Aleja Szucha 25 was the seat of the Office of the Commander of the Security Police and Security Service (Sipo and SD) for the Warsaw District and a Gestapo detention centre, and its basement was a place of execution of thousands of Poles, Jews and people of other nationalities. After the war a mausoleum was established here.⁶

   As of 7 November 2026The mausoleum belongs to the Museum of Independence (as a branch of the Pawiak Prison Museum); visiting arrangements are on the museum’s website.⁷

   Official website: muzn.pl

4. 04Museum of the Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners of the Polish People’s Republic

   Warsaw · Poland · 52.20, 21.01

   A museum in the former prison at ul. Rakowiecka 37, the communist authorities’ central prison after the Second World War, where political opponents were held and tried. The planned permanent exhibition will also cover the security apparatus that persecuted them. It is run by the IPN.^8,9

   As of 7 November 2026Guided tours only, after a confirmed booking; admission free. The museum is still being set up and building work is in progress.^8,9

   Official website: rakowiecka37.pl

Opening hours and visiting arrangements change – check the venue’s official website before you go. Coordinates of the IEEE plaque – according to the IEEE page; the others – OpenStreetMap. We do not put the Pyry centre on the map because we found no official information that it is open to visitors; its history is told on the Enigma Trail route.