A Virginia Hero and Holocaust Survivor
April 17, 2007
On Monday, millions of Israelis and Jews around the world remembered the Holocaust, the worst crime against humanity in the twentieth century. What an irony that a Holocaust survivor would become a hero during the worst shooting in the history of the United States on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Seventy five year old Virginia Tech professor and Holocaust survivor Liviu Librescu blocked the door into his classroom and allowed many of his students to escape from the deadly rampage. He sacrificed his life so they could live.
According to several reports here in the Israeli media, Librescu was a hero:
"... All the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio."
The Jerusalem Post quoted Librescu's son Joe: "My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee. Students started opening windows and jumping out."
Arie Librescu explains how his family received news of his father's death in yesterday's shooting spree. Click player to watch.
YNet quoted his daughter-in-law Ayala: "I heard he blocked the door of the classroom he was teaching… he must have realized that the murderer was approaching. He saved his students and was killed by gunshots."
While Yad Vashem, Israel's National Holocaust museum did not have any information on Librescu's ordeal as a Holocaust survivor, his academic career is listed on the Virginia Tech Web site.
It's an impressive list of awards, honors, and achievements. As a professor in the Engineering Science and Mechanics department, it also lists his interests such as the "dynamic response and instability of elastic and viscoelastic laminated composite structures. " For the lay person, certainly obscure interests.
But while his academic interests may not have been for the common man, it's clear from his life and last sacrificial act he also had a great interest in his fellow man.
Librescu will be buried here in Israel on Thursday.
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