德世堡:我决心

SONIA VERMA

Special to The Globe and Mail

JERUSALEM -- As a child, Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust. As an
adult, he escaped Romania's Communist rule.

But it was only in the last moments of his life that the Israeli
professor was recognized as a hero, sacrificing himself to save his
students -- using his body to block the door of his engineering classroom
as Cho Seung-Hui tried to shoot his way inside.

"He showed that kind of bravery throughout his life, so it doesn't
surprise me at all," his son, Joe Librescu, reflected.

"He had no fear. Not in doing the right thing, especially with regards to
his work and his students," he said from his home in Ranana, a sleepy
suburb of Tel Aviv.

Yesterday, the Librescu family was finalizing funeral arrangements for
their 76-year old father, a mechanical engineering professor and
well-regarded scientist who refused to retire after 20 years of teaching
at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

"He could never concede retirement. He loved his work too much. He was
too passionate to quit," his son said.

Joe and his brother Araya spent yesterday morning sifting through e-mails
sent from students of their father, painstakingly piecing together the
final moments of his life.

It was 9 a.m. on Monday morning. Prof. Librescu was in his second-floor
classroom in Virginia Tech's Norris Hall, launching into a lecture on
solid mathematics.

A series of shots rang out from an adjoining classroom, followed by
screams. Prof. Librescu rushed to the door and held it shut. His
engineering students dived for cover behind their desks.

As the sound of gunfire drew closer, his students searched for a way out.
Some climbed on desks, pulling down the window screens to kick out the
glass, jumping three metres to the bushes below.

In a letter addressed to Prof. Librescu's wife Marlena, one student
described how he climbed out the window, but paused on the ledge to look
back.

"I saw your husband still standing there. He was holding the door closed
and looking over his shoulder to make sure everybody else was safe. It
was the bravest thing I have ever seen and I will always remember his
courage," the student wrote.

Another simply wrote: "I think he saved my life."

Prof. Librescu was fatally shot, and died on his classroom floor. But by
the time the gunman managed to get inside, most of his students had
escaped to safety.

His sons described their father's final act of bravery as an honourable
end to a courageous life.

Prof. Librescu was born and raised in Romania.

During the Second World War, his family was interned in Transnistria, at
a labour camp set up by the Romanian government with the help of Nazi
Germany to exterminate the Roma people and Jews.

Prof. Librescu was 10 at the time -- among 200,000 people crowded into
crude barracks without running water, electricity or latrines. His family
was later deported to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani.

"That experience helped shape his character.

"He saw people who gave their lives for others in difficult times. He
knew what it meant to help others," said his son, Joe.

Mr. Librescu survived, and eventually married Marlena, another Holocaust
survivor.

He studied in Bucharest, earning his doctorate and gaining a reputation
as an accomplished scientist.

In 1978, the couple immigrated to Israel over objections from Romania's
Communist regime. He was granted permission to leave only after Menachem
Begin, the Israeli prime minister, personally appealed to Nicolae
Ceaucescu, the Romanian president.

In 1984, he moved with his wife to Virginia for his sabbatical, and chose
to stay.

But he returned to Israel frequently for family occasions and holidays.

Yesterday, his two sons who live here recalled their father's connection
to the country.

"He always considered himself as an Israeli. He saw himself as an
ambassador to the United States, but an Israeli at heart," Joe said.

His body will be flown to Israel for a family burial some time next week.