On convex and subharmonic functions , The Magisterium Dissertation in Mathematics by Ela-Chaim Cunzer, a victim of the Holocaust, was written in 1937 when he was a 23-year-old student at the University of Wilno, also known as Stefan Batory University, in Poland. (Wilno also called Vilna by its Jewish population, is present day Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.)
Cunzer's handwritten dissertation in Polish*, was unearthed in a sizable dossier of his work in the archives of the University of Vilnius (founded in 1579) in 1993. Professors Antoni Zygmund and J. Rudnicki were the examiners and signers of the dissertation on June 15, 1937. Dr. Antoni Zygmund, one of the towering figures in the field of 20th century mathematics, was Cunzer's mentor and teacher during his five years in the mathematics program at the university , 1932-1937; his signature appears on many other documents in Cunzer's dossier.
The search for this material began when I went to Vilnius in July 1993 for Memorial Services on the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the Vilna Ghetto. While there, I searched for photographs and family records at the university and met Rokas Oginskis, a young student, who offered to help me. He discovered the dossier, received permission from university officials to make photocopies, and sent it to me in December 1993.
Two cousins of Ela-Chaim Cunzer who survived the Holocaust recall that he did not cease to study mathematics even under the uspeakable conditions of the Vilna Ghetto. That, he said, kept him sane. Ela-Chaim Cunzer, born on June 6, 1914, perished in a concentration camp during the winter of 1943-1944.
To contact Esther Rudomin Hautzig directly, write her at the following address: E. R. Hautzig, PO Box 101, Spencertown NY 12165, USA.
WWW for this page: http://www.math.uchicago.edu/history/1937_thesis.html