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Instructor/Holocaust survivor dies in massacre protecting students
The Albuquerque Tribune ^ | 4/17/07 | Laurie Copans/Associated Press

Posted on 04/17/2007 11:29:40 AM PDT by Borges

JERUSALEM — The e-mails from grateful students arrived soon after Liviu Librescu was shot to death, telling how the Holocaust survivor barricaded the doorway of his Virginia Tech classroom and saved their lives at the cost of his own.

Librescu, 76, an Israeli engineering and math lecturer who survived the Nazi killings and later escaped from Communist Romania, was one of several foreign victims of Monday's shootings, which coincided with Israel's Holocaust remembrance day.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Librescu's son, Joe Librescu, said today in a telephone interview from his home outside Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Joe Librescu, who studied at Virginia Tech from 1989 to 1994, said his mother received e-mails from students shortly after learning of her husband's death.

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 graduated from Romania's Polytechnic University in 1953 with a degree in mechanics and aviation construction. He received a doctorate from Romania's Academy of Sciences in 1969.

Librescu found work at a government aerospace company. But his career was stymied in the 1970s because he refused to swear allegiance to the Communist regime, his son said, and he was later fired when he requested permission to move to Israel.

In 1977, according to his son, Israel's then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin personally intervened to get the family an emigration permit, and they left for Israel in 1978.

Librescu left Israel for Virginia in 1985 for a sabbatical year, but eventually made the move permanent, said Joe Librescu: "His work was his life in a sense."

Librescu, who specialized in composite structures and aeroelasticity, published extensively and received numerous awards for his work.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Israel
KEYWORDS: librescu; vatech

1 posted on 04/17/2007 11:29:43 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges
Wonder if he thought - Damn, this is the third time I needed to be armed...
2 posted on 04/17/2007 11:33:22 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Borges
Wonder if he thought - Damn, this is the third time I needed to be armed...and was told by the powers in charge to disarm.
3 posted on 04/17/2007 11:33:54 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Borges

BTTT


4 posted on 04/17/2007 11:35:56 AM PDT by RebekahT ("Government is not the solution to the problem, our government is the problem." -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: Borges

A true hero ... may he Rest In Peace.


5 posted on 04/17/2007 11:36:13 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Prevent Glo-Ball Warming ... turn out the sun when not in use)
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To: Borges

Oh how sad. God bless this man and his courage.


6 posted on 04/17/2007 11:37:46 AM PDT by CremeSaver
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To: Borges

Its often these people who know priorities, not too much talk on our MSM of this event, but should this come as any surprise?


7 posted on 04/17/2007 11:39:30 AM PDT by TheBethsterNH (...in Northern Massachusetts, formerly known as New Hampshire.)
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To: Borges

His bravery led to his death. Had he or even one of the other brave people who tried to stop this madman been armed matters might have been very different.
The rationale for preventing armed citizens on campus was to make the campus safe. That is the lie. Safety lies in the ability to stop murderous madmen.
Once again innocents pay the ultimate price for those who believe safety requires weakness and vulnerability.


8 posted on 04/17/2007 11:39:37 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (here come I, gravitas in tow.)
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To: 2banana

If you think all Jews roll over for “powers in charge” think again.

http://www.jpfo.org/experts.htm


9 posted on 04/17/2007 11:40:26 AM PDT by politicalwit (Family values don't stop at the border...but Federal laws do.)
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To: Borges
God be with you till we meet again;
Ended when for you earth’s story,
Israel’s chariot sweep to glory;
God be with you till we meet again.
--Jeremiah Rankin, 1882

10 posted on 04/17/2007 11:47:26 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Borges
John 15:13 - Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I humbly suggest that anyone so led, join me in saying Kaddish for this brave man:

MOURNER'S KADDISH - English Translation

"Glorified and sanctified be God's great Name throughout the world which He has created according to His Will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.

"May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity.

"Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.

"May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

"He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen."
11 posted on 04/17/2007 11:49:19 AM PDT by mkjessup
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To: Borges

He's the guy on the left. The man on the right is GV Loganathan and also died.
12 posted on 04/17/2007 12:05:28 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges
If possible, when they reopen the building, they should rename it LIBRESCU HALL
13 posted on 04/17/2007 12:13:57 PM PDT by ken5050
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To: Borges

Any pictures of this brave man?


14 posted on 04/17/2007 12:24:34 PM PDT by Victor (If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert." -David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister)
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To: Borges; devolve; ntnychik; PhilDragoo

He was a man, from the days of when real men stood up and did the right thing instead of jumping out windows and running away..


15 posted on 04/17/2007 12:40:01 PM PDT by potlatch
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To: Borges

His eyes have seen a lot


16 posted on 04/17/2007 3:12:23 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: ken5050

Good Afternoon,

In an effort to see that Norris Hall is renamed to Liviu “Librescu Hall”, we would like any posting or airing time you can give us.

http://www.petitiononline.com/04172007/petition.html

Prof Librescu is a Hero and we would like for him to be remembered, and the Name Norris Hall removed. We need to move on with the POSITIVE and the lives he DID save on that horrible day.

UPDATE APRIL 19TH 2007: THE PETITION IS NOW LIVE AT http://www.petitiononline.com/04172007/petition.html

Here’s how you can get the word out:

One of the easiest ways to do this is via Facebook. Send the “View Petition” link out to all your Facebook friends. Post it in the Notes Section of your Facebook page.

If you have a blog, write up an entry on your blog with the link to the Facebook group, the Petition, or both! If you are a user of Digg, Reddit, Delicious or any other social networking/bookmarking, get the link up there!!! The more people see it, the more signatures we can get for our cause!!!

Traditional instant messaging and email are also options. Put it in your status, send it to your friends, colleagues and others on your contact list.

if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to get in touch with myself or Jeff Layman via Facebook.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORT SO FAR, THE GROUP HAS GROWN IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS, AND


17 posted on 04/19/2007 2:27:14 PM PDT by offergreatdeals
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To: Borges
God had a very special propose for this wonderful, and brave man. That day at Virginia Tech was the day God chose to take him home, but not before he fulfilled God’s purpose. To save those students and to show the world the true meaning of COURAGE. Godspeed Professor.
18 posted on 04/19/2007 2:32:50 PM PDT by timydnuc (I'll die on my feet before I'll live on my knees.)
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