Israel's News & Views Blog
The body of Dr. Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor and lecturer at the Virginia Tech School of Engineering for more than 20 years, was brought back to Israel following his death at the hands of the 23 year old South Korean student who killed not only the 76 year old professor, but 31 others as well.
Dr. Librescu, who at the age of 10 was interned with his parents in a work detention camp in Romania during WWII, became a hero on Monday, April 16, when he barred the door to his classroom with his own body to prevent the slayer from entering – an action that is now being credited with saving the lives of at least twenty students. For that heroic action, Dr. Librescu paid the ultimate price – his life.
When interviewed following the carnage that still has the campus of nearly 30,000 students, and Americans all over reeling from the sadness and shock of this tragedy, several of Librescu’s students said that his actions probably saved their lives. “I probably wouldn’t be here today if Professor Librescu hadn’t acted like he did – he is a real hero” one student was quoted as saying. While Dr. Librescu blocked the doorway, many of his students were able to escape by jumping out the classroom windows.
Dr. Librescu’s son, Joe, who lives in Israel, said that his father had lived a very “eventful life”, having had experienced both the horrors of the Holocaust and the severe hardships of life under the regime of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu before immigrating to Israel in 1977. Professor Liberescu had managed to gain distinction in Romania in the field of engineering science and mecanics; and was invited to do research at Virginia Tech in 1986, where he continued on as a research fellow and lecturer.
It’s ironic that the tragedy in which so many died, including Dr. Librescu, occurred on Holocaust Remembrance Day, when thousands of Holocaust survivors, many living in both the U.S.A. and Israel, still feel the grief and pain of perhaps the world’s worst human nightmare.
Those who knew Dr. Librescu personally, including colleagues, students, and members of his own family, say that he was thoroughly dedicated to his profession and had refused to retire; feeling that he was needed as an academic leader.
For those who lived through and survived the terrible years of Nazi tyranny, it has often been said that they were being saved for some kind of higher purpose. In the case of Dr. Librescu, that purpose was demonstrated many times during his life and appears to have culminated with his brave and heroic act to save the lives of many of his students.
One of three academic lecturers from Israel on the Virginia Tech campus, Dr. Liviu Librescu was brought back to Israel for burial. Perhaps this is most fitting as the State of Israel, has become a symbol for Jews everywhere to live in their own homeland and not be subject to whims of some king or political despot, as had been the fate of the Jewish People for more than two thousand years.
Being a Holocaust survivor, what more fitting way to leave this world than as a hero, trying to protect those he taught, guided, and loved. His life – and death, should be an example to us all.
2 Comments
Dr.Librescu was indeed a hero,puting his students lives before
his own,its a great shame that after so many hardships he
experienced in life his life ended in such a violent way by
a deranged angry nobody with nothing to shaw for his life.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
The overwhelming pride Dr. Librescu’s family must feel through their grief. He is indeed a beautiful light.
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