Holocaust Survivor Saves VT Lives
Something good out of so much carnage. Virginia Tech engineering professor Liviu Librescu's life as told by his son, Joe.
(...)Liviu Librescu's life in Romania, which ended with the family's move to Israel in 1978, was difficult from the start. A teenager during WWII, he survived fascist Romania and life in the shadow of the Gestapo. His father was deported to a forced labor camp during the war, while Librescu spend part of the war in relative safety in Russia, Joe Librescu said.
"Afterward," he said, "he endured [communist dictator Nicolae] Ceaucescu's Romania."
As a scientist, his contacts with the outside world were blocked. When his desire to leave for Israel became known, he was forced to resign his position without knowing whether he would find other work.
"Nevertheless, and at risk to his life, he continued to publish," Librescu said. "So I wasn't surprised at what he did when [facing] the shooter [Monday]."
His life was devoted to his science, "and we were proud because we understood that he was creating something big, even if it was abstract and formulaic and hard to pronounce," Librescu said about his father's research on aircraft design and materials science.
Liviu Librescu's oft-tested personal courage, coupled with his devotion to science, made him a man unafraid "to die in the place he loved the most, the classroom," his son believes. More.
Librescu held the door to his classroom shut, giving his students time to escape Cho's shooting rampage.
