In Memorium: Liviu Librescu

The sad, tragic and horrible irony of how a Holocaust survivor, a man who then survived Communism in Romania, died in America by a hand gun is not lost on me nor has it been lost on the rest of the world. Professor Librescu died after he threw his body in front of the door to his classroom to allow his students to escape through the windows when the VT gunman approached. At the memorial service, President Bush said, "We take strength from his example" and hundreds of blogs and news outlets are writing about him. I'm just one of them.

Jason Linkins's post on DCist titled Requiem For a Heavyweight is an especially great post which I really suggest you read in its entirety. He details Prof. Librescu's life and how "it is an extraordinary thing, then, that a man whose life was mainly defined through escape and survival faced the unfolding terror of yesterday's killings in an altogether different way."

The most touching point is at the end where he notes that "within hours of yesterday's shootings, it is reported that the inbox of Liviu Librescu's wife began to fill with email, all from thankful students whose lives he saved. In this small way, it can be said that Liviu Librescu has survived even this." It has been reported that all of students wound up safely escaping. Who knows how many would have died if he did not act as he did.

In summation, Paul at Powerline puts it even more simply: "More than sixty years after his liberation, the rescued became the rescuer."

Todah (thank you) Professor. Todah.