Mathwar/Kaluznin Lev
Lev Kaluznin
Lev Kaluznin (* January 31st 1914 in Moscow, † December 6th 1990 in Moscow)
Life
Shortly after Lev Arkad'evich Kaluznin's birth, his parents were divorced and his father, Arkadii Rubin, a well-known businessman, moved to England. Lev was brought up by his mother, Maria Pavlovna Kaluznina. She came from an old noble family many of whose members had become prominent figures in Russian culture, education, and the Arts. She passed her cultural values on to her son, especially her deep love for literature and music. She had a great influence on Lev Arkad'evich throughout her life - sometimes markedly so.
In 1936 he moved to Hamburg, to study there. World War II and the occupation of Paris by German troops forced Kaluznin to terminate his mathematical studies. To make a living during these difficult times he attended a vocational school and became an electrician. On 22 June 1941 his life changed dramatically - as did the lives of many Soviet citizens, who, like Kaluznin, were interned and sent to a camp in Compiègne near Paris. In the beginning, conditions in the camp were tolerable and some prisoners, being specialists in certain fields, would entertain themselves by lecturing to others on diverse subjects. In March 1942 he was transferred, as one of a group of prisoners, to a concentration camp in Wahlsburg. There, the horrors of camp life were felt to their fullest extent. Had it not been for the devotion and efforts of his mother, who found ways of surreptitiously sending him food during this period, Kaluznin may not have survived to see the camp liberated by American soldiers.
In the Spring of 1945 Kaluznin returned to Paris. For a while he worked as a translator for the Soviet Embassy, but after a while he returned to his mathematical studies.