Konrad Zuse developed a computer in Germany well before the Second World War. His machine, the Z-1 built between 1936 and 1938, can claim to be the first binary digital computer in the world. It survived the war and is now on display at the Museum for Transport and Technology ('Museum fur Verkehr und Technik') in Berlin.
Zuse was working in total isolation and his work was so secret and unknown that his achievements remained unrecognised until long after others had claimed the credit for their own inventions.
Certainly Zuse got to the programmable digital computer at least a year before Colossus was built. His machine was built from telephone relays alone and, unlike Colossus, did not use any electronic components.
