Liviu Librescu

Liviu Librescu

Liviu Librescu was born August 18, 1930 in Ploiești, Kingdom of Romania (Present-Day: Romania.)

His Father, Izidor Librescu, was a Lawyer.

On August 8, 1940 Romania, under Ion Antonescu and his Nazi Iron Guard (Romanian: Garda de Fier), created the “Jewish Statue” that was similar to Nazi Germany’s Nurenberg Laws declaring who was a Jew and what Jews could and could not do.

Liviu’s Father was banned from being a Lawyer.

On November 23, 1940 Romania officially became a Member of the Axis Powers (along with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, Finland, the Slovak Republic, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Croatia and the Empire of Japan.)

In 1941 was deported to a Labor Camp in Transnistria (an area of Romania that the Soviets occupied from September 1939-June 1941 and again from 1945-1991 making it part of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic) by the Romanian Nazis.

Liviu and his Mother were forced into the Focșani Ghetto and then a Forced Labor Camp.

His Parents and he were lucky to have survived the War as 380,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children were murdered by the Romanians during the Holocaust.

Ion Antonescu was Trialed for his Crimes and executed in 1946.

Liviu was 14 years old when World War 2 ended in May 1945 and Romania was under Soviet Occupation with the Communists governing Romania from 1947 until 1989.)

Liviu studied Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, graduating in 1952 and continuing with a Master's Degree at the same University.

He received his Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics in 1969 at the Academia de Științe din România.

From 1953 to 1975, he worked as a Researcher at the Bucharest Institute of Applied Mechanics, and later at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerospace Constructions of the Academy of Science of Romania.

He married Marlena and they had two Sons, Joseph and Arieh.

In the late 1970s his career stalled when he refused to swear Allegiance to Nicolae Ceaușescu's Government.

When he requested to Emigrate to Israel the Academy of Science of Romania fired him.

After months on end Communist Government refusal, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin intervened to get the Librescu Family an Emigration Permit by directly asking Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu to let them go.

In 1978 Liviu and his Family moved to Israel.

From 1979 to 1986, Liviu was Professor of Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering at Tel Aviv University and taught at the Technion in Haifa.

In 1985 he went to teach at Virginia Tech in the United States in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

On April 16, 2007 South Korean Seung-Hui Cho opened fired at Virginia Tech.

When Cho tried to enter the Classroom where Liviu was teaching Solid Mechanics Liviu held the door of his Classroom shut and yelled to his Students to escape through the windows.

Cho shot Liviu four times through the door.

Cho then entered the Classroom, and seeing only Liviu and one Student (Minal Panchal), got mad and shot and killed both of them.

Liviu Librescu was 76 years old.

Liviu is credited with saving the lives of 22 of the 23 Students in his Class by his actions.

The Massacre took place on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).

On April 18, 2007, President of the United States George W. Bush honored Liviu at a Memorial Service held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

On April 20, 2007 Liviu was buried at Ra’anana’s Cemetery in Israel.

In his native Romania a candle was lit and flowers laid at the  Polytechnic University of Bucharest.

Liviu was the Author of: 4 Monographs; 21 Chapters in Books; 288 Articles appeared in Peer-Reviewed Journals; 250 Papers included in the proceedings and 190 Lectures at National and International Conferences and Congresses; 40 invited Lectures to various Universities of the USA and in more than 10 Foreign Countries.

The President of Romania, Traian Basescu, Posthumously awarded him the National Order of the Star of Romania for his heroic role in the events at Virginia Tech.

The Street in front of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania was named in his honor.