Women Codebreakers Bletchley Park: Interesting Links

As you guys may remember, I am working on a rather large research paper for my history class on the women codebreakers who worked at Bletchley Park during WWII in England. I know a few people expressed interest in this topic as well, so I have rounded up some really great links I have come across for you to check out if you are interested. I'm also planning on doing a post on books to read on this topic as well.

The employees at BP were 75% women. They held a variety of positions and made huge contributions to the war efforts, but in many cases, they were unaware of the importance of the work they were doing. Operations at BP remained secret until 1974 when the first novel by a BP employee was published. Many of these women never told their families of the work they did during the war.

Interview with Jean Valentine, cryptologist at BP

Interview with Mavis Batey, cryptologist (scroll down a bit for the audio interview) the site also has interesting biographies of some of the women working at BP.

I love hearing from the actual women who worked at the park! They are amazing women. They were doing advanced work in science, math, and language at a time when many universities would not even grant degrees to women.

Joan Clarke is a great woman to research (she is played by Keira Knighly in The Imitation Game) as she was the only women to hold the title of Head-Cryptologitst. She has not done very many interviews unfortunately, and the ones she has done focus mostly on her brief engagement to Turning, again unfortunately. But there is some of her writings out there and research done on her.

Google Cultural Institute

Google put together three really great cultural institute galleries about Bletchley Park, one about the work done there in general, one about the women at BP, and one about the recent restoration of the park to turn it into a museum. These presentations contains primary source pictures and quotes, video interviews, and historical documents. These are really cool and I highly recommend checking them out.

Bletchleypark.org

This is the official site of BP. You can find a short history here and information on visiting, which I'm totally jealous if you live close enough to visit!

Smithsonian Magazine Article 

Lifting the Veil: CNN Article

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, or any links that you know of about these incredible women. Happy researching!

Recently Read: The Nightingale

Author: Kristin Hannah
Genre: Adult historical fiction- WWII
Publication Date: 2015
Page Count: 440
Rating: 4/5

Add on Goodreads 

Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale was a Goodreads Choice 2015 winner, and a great piece of historical fiction. I have been in the mood for historical fiction lately, and WWII is my favorite time period to read historical fiction about. I love how women come to the forefront of these stories and run the world while the men are gone. Today, I thought I would do something a little different and instead of a traditional review I would give you five reasons why you should read The Nightingale. 

1. It takes place in occupied France.

I have never read a WWII novel that took place in occupied France. Plenty take place in the U.S. or England, but this was a new setting for me. I loved seeing a new view of the war. The things that went on in occupied France were horrifying, but don't seem to be recounted as much as the experiences of other countries.  

2. It follows two really strong and different female protagonists.

Isabelle and Vianne are sisters who have a difficult relationship with each other. I loved both of these characters, they were both frustrating and brave in multiple ways throughout the story. I loved seeing the growth and resilience of both characters as well as seeing changes in their relationship with each other.

3. The second half is impossible to put down.

The first half of this novel does a really great job of setting up the characters, and the pacing of the novel imitates the pacing and progress of the occupation, but the second half of this novel is impossible to put down. I couldn't stop reading when the horrors started escalating. I felt that the novel was a bit rushed towards the end, but I needed to know how it ended.  

4.  It's an emotional roller coaster.

So much happens in this novel, just when you start to get comfortable, the Nazi's throw a wrench in the lives of the characters, This novel highlights all of the tragedies of war and hate, but is also so full of love and bravery. And the end, oh my gosh. 

5. This quote:

"Men tell stories, I say... Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in the history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over."