By Joe Spier
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada — At 10 o’clock in the morning on April 16, 2007 sirens sounded all over Israel and the country came to a standstill, people stopped what they were doing, pulled over in their cars and stood in remembrance. It was Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day to remember those who suffered, those who fought and those who died. Two of those pausing in remembrance were certainly brothers Araya and Joe Librescu.
On the same day, their father, Professor Liviu Librescu, thousands of miles away, began to teach a class on solid mechanics at a college campus committed to learning, discovery and engagement.
In a gruesome moment of terror, these two seemingly unconnected events would become interrelated.
Prof. Librescu was born in 1930 in Ploesti, Romania. As a Jew his situation was precarious prior to World War II and deteriorated rapidly in 1940 after the country joined the axis alliance and came under the influence of Nazi Germany. At the age of 10, Librescu, together with his family, was interned in Transnistra, at a forced labour camp which housed 200,000 people crowded into crude barracks without running water, electricity or latrines. Later he was moved to the ghetto in the city of Focsani.
Between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romania’s Nazi associated regime during the war. Librescu survived and was repatriated to Romania where he completed his education, a M.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics.
Prof. Librescu became a successful engineer working at Romania’s aerospace agency. However, he chafed under the communist, totalitarian rule of Nicolae Ceausescu which forbade him to have professional contact with sources outside the country. Librescu defied the ban and published scientific articles secretly. His career was stymied after he refused to swear allegiance to the regime. In the 1970s Librescu applied to emigrate to Israel but was refused on the pretext that he held state secrets. His request cost him his job. Finally in 1978, only after the personal intervention of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the Government relented. The Librescu family was granted an emigration permit and they moved to Israel where he taught mechanical engineering at Tel Aviv University.
In 1985 Prof. Librescu, together with his wife Marilena, on a year’s sabbatical, moved to Virginia where he later chose to stay. He became a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech teaching there for over 20 years, refusing to retire even though this year he was 76.
What was the nature of this man who was to become a hero? He was an accomplished academic of the highest rank who was internationally admired for his teaching. He published extensively and received numerous awards for his research which enabled the construction of better aircraft and superior composite materials. Strong and dignified, yet unassuming, he bore a huge affection for his students and believed in excellence. He loved his work over which he was too passionate to quit and had outside interests which included music, sports, hiking and travel. Ever smiling he was, in the European gentlemanly way, always polite. His was a life of oft tested personal courage.
On the morning of April 16, 2007, Marlena Librescu, as she did every morning since he did not have a driver’s license, drove her husband Liviu to Virginia Tech. Walking from the car to his classroom on the second floor of Norris Hall, he, like everyone else, did not know that a crazed student on a deadly rampage had already taken two lives and shortly would take another thirty, the largest massacre by a single gunman in U.S. history.
Prof. Librescu had just began teaching his class on solid mechanics when gunshots and screams were heard from an adjacent classroom. As the gunfire came closer some students dropped to the floor and flipped over desks to hide behind while others dashed to the windows to kick out screens in order to jump from the ledge of the room while Librescu used his body to block the door of the classroom as the gunman tried to shoot his way inside. The last students to jump out the windows turned and saw their Professor still blocking the door. All of his students survived. Liviu Librescu was shot in the face through the door as he held it shut. He sacrificed himself so that his students might live.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day – 2007, Liviu Librescu, holocaust survivor, in a final act of courage, surrendered his life to save his students. His burial took place at Ra’anana, Israel. Mourning his loss were his wife Marlena, his sons Araya and Joe, the faculty and students of Virginia Tech and those of us who did not know him but are humbled by his heroism. The Righteous do still walk amongst us.
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Spier is a retired lawyer with a keen interest in Jewish history. You may contact him via joe.spier@sdjewishworld.com.