Liviu Librescu: A Hero Among The Ages

Photo of Dr. Liviu Librescu This is one of the hardest blog entries I’ve ever attempted to write, as I am not quite sure where to begin. How do you begin to write an entry about someone who is not with us anymore? How can anyone possibly do that? I don’t presume to be an excellent writer, but allow me to take this moment to evoke my feelings on the senseless death of a hero.

I was filled with great sadness and despair when I had heard that Dr. Librescu, a teacher at Virginia Tech, was killed during Monday’s shooting spree at the previously mentioned school. Never in my life have I felt such feelings. Why, you ask, do you feel this way?

It was the manner in which Dr. Librescu died. He had died protecting the young, giving them the chance to escape to safety. He had sacrificed his own life, by putting himself between the cowardly shooter and his desired victims.

The irony behind his death is not lost.

When Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in World War II, the young Librescu was interned in a labor camp, and then sent along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani, his son said. Hundreds of thousands of Romanian Jews were killed by the collaborationist regime during the war. Librescu survived the war, and went on to work in the aerospace industry, and later moved to Virginia in 1985 temporarily, then permanently.

Dr. Librescu died on April 16th 2007, known as Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

A greater hero the world has not known. The Talmud has a verse that says “… And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” Indeed, Librescu has saved an entire world.

Dr. Liviu Librescu, 1930-2007, a hero among the ages.

EDIT I: A Facebook group has been created to start a petition calling for the renaming of Norris Hall to Librescu Hall.

EDIT II: This post was referenced to in this New York Times Article. You will find the link in the section titled “Hero of the Hokies”.

Posted By: Justin Kozuch
Posted On: April 18th, 2007
Posted In: General
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