Omagiu lui Liviu Librescu in Israel
Data publicarii: 21/04/2007
<b>Profesorul israelian de origine romana Liviu Libreanu, ucis in masacrul de luni de la Virginia Tech, a fost inmormintat vineri in Israel.</b>
Zeci de persoane au asistat la funeralii in cimitirul din orasul Raanana, din centrul Israelului, pentru un ultim omagiu adus profesorului Librescu, supravietuitor al Holocaustului care a emigrat in Israel in 1978, pentru a se instala ulterior in Statele Unite. Librescu a tinut blocata usa incaperii pentru a le permite studentilor sa sara pe geam, in timpul conflictului singeros de la Universitatea Tehnica din Virginia din data de 16 aprilie. Ulterior, atacatorul a incercat sa intre in clasa si pentru ca nu a reusit a tras o rafala de gloante in usa. "Imi voi consacra viata mostenirii tale. Adio, tata", a spus fiul sau Joe. Trupul neinsufletit al profesorului Librescu a fost transportat cu zborul Elal nr. 2 de la New York la Tel Aviv, insotit de citiva reprezentanti ai unei organizatii religioase si de membri ai familiei. Profesorul Liviu Librescu s-a nascut in 1930 in Romania. Dupa ce a supravietuit Holocaustului, a refuzat sa se inscrie in Partidul Comunist si si-a pierdut slujba ca inginer aerospatial. In 1976, Liviu Librescu a publicat in secret o carte in Norvegia in care a emis o teorie revolutionara pentru tehnologia aerospatiala. In 1978, dupa ce mai multe grupuri din Israel au facut lobby, lui Librescu i s-a permis sa plece din Romania si s-a stabilit in Israel. La Virginia Tech a inceput sa predea din 1985. Librescu era membru al mai multor academii de constructii din Ucraina, Armenia si Statele Unite ale Americii si a fost distins cu multe premii de catre mai multe organizatii internationale. El avea peste 500 de materiale publicate in mai multe reviste de specialitate sau ca lucrari personale.
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Sursa Originala: <a href="http://www.ziaruldeiasi.ro/cms/site/z_is/news/omagiu_lui_liviu_librescu_in_israel_142568.html">http://www.ziaruldeiasi.ro/cms/site/z_is/news/omagiu_lui_liviu_librescu_in_israel_142568.html</a>
Ziarul de Iasi
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Florin Nicula (florin.nicula@ziaruldeiasi.ro)
ron
Romanian born Hero Liviu Librescu received Highest Award
[April 18] <b>Romanian born Hero Liviu Librescu received Highest Award</b>
<i>romanian-gymnastics.com</i>
BUCHAREST/ The President of Romania, Traian Basescu, has signed today, April the 18th the year to end, the decree concerning the post-mortem conferring of the National Order The Star of Romania with the rank of Grand Cross to Mr. Liviu Librescu, Ph.D., University Professor.
The National Order The Star of Romania with the rank of High Cross has been conferred as a sign of high appreciation and gratitude for the entire scientific and academic activity, as well as for the heroism shown in the course of the tragic events which took place on April the 16th, 2007, in the Campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, the United States of America, through which he saved the lives of his students, sacrificing his own life.
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Original Source:<a href="http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com/news/2007/04/romanian_born_hero_received_highest_award.htm">http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com/news/2007/04/romanian_born_hero_received_highest_award.htm</a>
Romanian Gymnastics
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Victor (info@romanian-gymnastics.com)
eng
Fastest Presidential answer to a citizen request
[May 17] <b>Fastest Presidential answer to a citizen request</b>
Miami, FL, US / (Press Release) The record for the World's "Fastest Presidential answer to a citizen request" has just been accepted by the World Records Academy.
The new record holder is President Traian Basescu (Romania), who promptly answered to an emergency citizen request on April 18 and has issued in less than two hours a Presidential Decree conferring of the National Order „The Star of Romania" to Mr. Professor Liviu Librescu.
Also as requested, two days later, in Israel, a special envoy of the Romanian president presented to his widow and two sons the Star of Romania medal in recognition of his courage and contribution to science.
Romanian born Professor Liviu Librescu is the hero <i>"who, at the cost of his own life, saved the lives of his students during the massacre at Virginia Tech."</i> -according to <a href="http://www.jwv.org/communication/jwvdetail.cfm?ID=196">Jewish War veterans of the USA</a>.
The Certificate for this new world record will reach President Basescu during the next days and his record will be listed in the 2008 edition of the World Records Book, the official publication of the World Records Academy.
"The main point of this story which convinced us to recognize this somehow unusual (but very human-appealling) world record was that a President which knew he has only few hours left before being suspended by the Parliament, a President which has to approve and sign <a href="http://www.presidency.ro/?_RID=det&tb=date&id=8692&_PRID=ag">tons of documents</a> during his last few hours as President, left everything behind -as requested by an ordinary citizen (a 23 years old girl, a marketing student!)- and did what a President always has to do in the first instance: served his Country, above anything else, even above his own personal political problems", said Tom Howard, Head of Records for World Records Academy. He also added "We all have dreamed about changing the World in better, some still hopes, aren't we? If the young generation still has this dream, it's encouraging, especially when somebody like...a President, does fulfill their dreams."
"It's kind of '<a href="http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-5D09-150AAA26-39CFEBEC-prod3">It could happen to you</a>' story, but this time it wasn't anything material involved, only the noble desire to pay respects to a Hero, and pay them on time! In that movie, during the evening before loosing their restaurant, the goodhearted couple still have the patience and heart to open their cafe and handle a last bowl of soup to a street man (an undercover journalist). This time, possibly being just a-step-to-his-career's end, a President left everything behind and did a notable gesture."
"No wonder why this President has become so popular among regular citizens in his country, Romania, and why the younger generation widely supports him: if you write a message (in a matter of National Interest) to a President and he do what he was asked to do, simply because the request was right, that's the President I think anybody would LOVE to have!"
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Original Source: <a href="http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/amazing/fastest_presidential_answer_to_a_citizen_request_70180.htm">http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/amazing/fastest_presidential_answer_to_a_citizen_request_70180.htm</a>
World Records Academy
2007-06-11
Brent Jesiek
Victor (info@romanian-gymnastics.com)
eng
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
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Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Laura Copcea
2007-06-08
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
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Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea(promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
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Sursa Originala: <a href=" http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
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Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala:
<a href="http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala:
<a href="http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala:
<a href="http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala:
<a href="http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
2007-06-11
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza
2007-06-08
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Moment de comemorare a studentilor de la universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iasi pentru studentii de la Virginia Tech - vineri, 20 aprilie 2007
Moment of commemoration from the students and faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania for Virginia Tech- Friday, April 20th, 2007.
--
Sursa Originala: <a href="
http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech">http://www.uaic.ro/uaic/bin/view/Photos/RememberVirginiaTech</a>
Laura Copcea
2007-06-08
Adriana Seagle
Laura Copcea (promovare@uaic.ro)
ron
Librescu Day
By Salah Obeid
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Jun 8, 2007, 00:27
There isn't room enough on the calendar to honor every American hero, but Aug. 16, the birthday of one such hero, is a day teachers and others who cherish education should make a point of celebrating.
No one knows what drove Liviu Librescu, four months short of his 77th birthday, to martyr himself to the cause of education. But that is what Librescu, a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor and mechanical engineering professor, did when he blocked a gunman from entering his Virginia Tech University classroom on April 16 -- earning him five bullets, one of them to the head -- so that most of his students could escape through the windows.
Because he was slain in a public learning institution, public schools are where he should be celebrated. And because Librescu (the root of whose name, "libre," is Latin for "free") came to America searching for freedom, those who teach subjects like U.S. history and government should make honoring him a lesson on where his adopted country truly stands on freedom.
By the time they enter college, many students in this country can't think critically about history and politics, having rarely been encouraged in school to think creatively outside of art and music class. Yet wolfing down hot dogs and soaking up sun on a field trip to celebrate Librescu Day could amount to more than just indigestion and sunburn, if the day were also an occasion for students to reflect on how their country, a magnet for immigrants seeking freedom, too often deprives people in other countries of the very freedoms Americans enjoy.
Throughout its history, the United States has -- in places like Latin America, Haiti, the Philippines and elsewhere -- picked fights at the drop of a dime whenever dollars were to be made, a fact that is largely ignored in classrooms around the country. The result is that, as the country gets bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, many students don't know any better than to think thousands of their fellow citizens, most only slightly older than them, are killing and being killed in those countries in the name of spreading freedom.
But freedom can mean many things. Librescu, born on Aug. 16, 1930, on the outskirts of Bucharest, was barely nine when World War II broke out and could only watch as his government, also in the name of freedom, helped the Nazis annihilate hundreds of thousands of Romania's Jewish citizens. Luckily he survived, became an accomplished scientist and, in 1986, after living several years in Israel, left for Virginia on a sabbatical and never looked back. Little did he know that years later a frustrated, mentally-ill college student would alone succeed where the focused efforts of the entire Nazi Party had failed.
Still, Librescu's death will have been partly in vain if teachers ignore the dedication symbolized by a colleague's choosing to die so that his students might live to see another classroom. Ignorance that isn't necessarily willful but rather the result of intimidation.
How else to explain that so many U.S. history and government teachers go out of their way to avoid discussing the context in which President Bush, in his second inaugural address, for example, used words like "freedom" and "liberty" some dozen odd times? Or in which Vice President Dick Cheney, during remarks to Westminster College in Missouri a few years ago, paraphrased Winston Churchill's assessment of the struggle against Soviet communism, in order to paint a picture of the chaos in U.S.-occupied Iraq as a contest between "those who served an aggressive, power-hungry ideology and those who believed in human liberty, freedom of conscience and the dignity of every life"?
Words like "liberty" and expressions like "freedom of conscience" are easily said; the challenge is living up to the ideals they represent. But often politicians aren't so challenged to begin with, and worse, sometimes rely on such words, as George Orwell wrote, "in a consciously dishonest way."
Dignity of life, after all, means little coming from someone like Cheney, whose central pursuit over the past few years has been to enrich his friends at Enron and Halliburton over the dead bodies of an estimated million or so Iraqi civilians -- people who might have lived in fear under Saddam Hussein, but who at least could've expected to live with far more certainty than can Iraqis today.
Propaganda and censorship is something that, growing up in communist Romania, Librescu knew all too well. The same can be said of another Jewish hero to whom he is often compared.
On Aug. 5, 1942, German soldiers stormed an orphanage for Jewish children in Warsaw, instructing the man who ran it, Janusz Korczak, that he was free to go, but that his 200 or so orphans and several staff members were slated for extermination. Unlike Librescu, Korczak couldn't save his charges from death. Instead, he followed them to the gas chamber, his final gesture to children who'd had so little and died so young.
A renowned children's author and pediatrician, Korczak was also a teacher, and instructed hundreds at his Dom Sierot (Polish for "house for orphans") with little regard for convention. Those who survived the war recount being allowed to form a "kind of a republic for children, with its own small parliament, court and newspaper," according to an entry on <a href="http://wikipedia.org/">Wikipedia.org</a>. By contrast, a half-century later, American public schools appear intent on turning students into automatons.
And even that they're getting wrong.
Students in the United States, in subjects like math and science, which require learning mostly by mind-numbing rote, lag behind their counterparts in miserably poor countries like Bangladesh, Burundi, El Salvador and Nepal. Generally, though, American students also read less for pleasure, visit fewer museums and attend schools with mediocre teachers, all easily gleaned from comparing how flippant and addicted to pop culture many young Americans are next to kids in less fortunate parts of the world.
Maybe that is because, as one credit card company likes to say, there are some things money can't buy. China, where teachers get paid a pittance by a government that looks with scorn at individual rights and free speech, generally has a more well-read, independent-minded, smarter population than ours. Which is what outright censorship does: breed rebellion.
Censorship, though, shouldn't be allowed any wiggle room in a country billing itself as the "land of the free." Yet the United States has become fertile ground for it, an indication of which is that mainstream media, not satisfied with just obscuring the "who," "what" and "where" in its news coverage, goes to great lengths to avoid the "why" altogether. It may be just as well, then, that many kids come home from school in the afternoon only to get super glued to MTV, video games or websites like <a href="http://myspace.com/">Myspace.com</a>, since much of what's in the news would sooner confuse than educate them.
Were that not sad enough, the education that does manage to seep into the minds of these would-be torchbearers of democracy is watered down to the point of irrelevancy. Not because teachers are stupid, evil or lazy but because most are simply too afraid to rock the boat.
Many teachers understand they swim in murky water. Water that has swallowed teachers like Deb Mayer at Clear Creek Elementary in Monroe County, Indiana, near Bloomington (home, ironically, to liberal arts-dominated Indiana University). Mayer was fired in 2003 after she dared discuss the subject of peace movements during a general class discussion about the build-up to the war in Iraq.
Similarly, a school in Wilton, Conn., recently banned a play about the conflict in that country.
"In Wilton, most kids only care about Britney Spears shaving her head or Tyra Banks gaining weight," 16-year-old Devon Fontaine, a cast member, told The New York Times. "What we wanted was to show kids what was going on overseas."
The school administration's reply: "You can't always get what you want."
Censorship is well documented in schools throughout the country. Schools like Columbine High School in Colorado, where Alfred Wilder was fired in 1996 for showing Bernardo Bertolucci's film, "1900," which explores fascism, to a senior class studying logic and debate. That instance of censorship may even have cost 13 students and a teacher their lives.
A video depicting students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold rehearsing for the massacre they'd go on to carry out at the school three years later wasn't allowed to be shown on school grounds because of the controversy surrounding the Bertolucci film.
"If the video had indeed been shown," Al Hidell wrote in "The New Conspiracy Reader," "perhaps somebody would have realized the serious threat it represented, which may have prevented the tragedy from occurring."
Rarely, of course, is censorship so dramatic in its outcome that it becomes a matter of life and death. But there is such a thing as a slow death. Appalled by the stifling of his film, Bertolucci wrote that it was no less than a prelude to totalitarianism when classrooms become a place "in which the voice of established authority denounced criticism or debate, and used the high school classroom to silence other voices."
Voices that hold that "children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way."
Before letting cocaine lead the way for her instead, Whitney Huston knew what she was singing about. The minute students are fit to broach subjects like history, government and political affairs is the minute they should be challenged to imagine their future roles as informed, voting citizens. Citizens like Librescu, who wore many hats but probably would have been happy to be remembered as one more in a long line of educators who eschewed empty slogans, who knew that leaving no child behind meant arming students with curiosity, compassion and courage.
Courage, though, shouldn't mean that 3,500 young Americans, and counting, have to take their final breath in a country that never meant the United States any harm. Courage should mean educating the nation's youth so that they can spot a charlatan when they see one, even if he worms his way up to the presidency itself. Those who will inherit this nation need that kind of courage from those who've been here a while, so that they too can develop the courage to die if need be.
But to die in the spirit of someone like Librescu, who took one bullet after another yet refused to let go, so that others might live and learn.
And be free.
Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal
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Archived courtesy of <a href="http://onlinejournal.com/">Online Journal</a>.
Original Source: <a href="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2062.shtml">http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2062.shtml</a>
Salah Obeid
2007-06-10
Brent Jesiek
Bev Conover, Editor and Publisher, Online Journal
(editor_oj@yahoo.com or editor@onlinejournal.com)
eng
Profesorul erou din America, plecat din Focsani
De, Silvia Vrinceanu Nichita | 18.04.2007
<b>Profesorul Liviu Librescu, impuscat mortal intr-un amfiteatru al Universitatii Virginia Tech din SUA, este originar din Focsani, unde a trait pina la 14 ani. De asemenea, sotia regretatului profesor este fiica unui stomatolog evreu din Focsani. Ambii au supravietuit Holocaustului si au emigrat cu greu in Israel in timpul regimului comunist. In masacrul de luni, de la universitatea americana, au fost omorite 32 de persoane si alte 29 au fost ranite. Ziarul de Vrancea se afla in corespondenta cu renumitul profesor in vederea publicarii unui articol despre opresiunile antisemite din perioada copilariei sale.</b>
Putini stiu ca masacrul care a ingrozit planeta in cursul zilei de ieri are legatura cu Focsaniul si cu prigoana evreilor care s-a produs in aceasta zona a tarii in timpul Holocaustului. Liviu Librescu, în virsta de 76 de ani, profesor de aeronautica la Universitatea Virginia Tech din Statele Unite ale Americii, care a fost ucis in atacul de luni, alaturi de 31 studenti, a copilarit mai multi ani la Focsani, unde tatal sau, un avocat evreu repudiat, a avut domiciliul fortat, in timpul prigoanei antiseminte. La Focsani, unde a urmat cursurile Colegiului Unirea, profesorul Liviu Librescu a cunoscut-o si pe cea care i-a fost alaturi toata viata, sotia sa Marilena. Ambii au fost supravietuitori ai Holocaustului din Romania. Chiar in aceste zile, cind comunitatea evreiasca din toata lumea se pregateste sa comemoreze revolta evreilor din ghetoul de la Varsovia, unul dintre simbolurile de rezistenta si eroism in timpul Holocaustului, reporterii nostri se aflau in corespondenta cu apreciatul profesor univesitar pe tema ororilor din timpul celui de-al doilea razboi mondial. Potrivit studentilor sai, citati de presa internationala, profesorul Liviu Librescu a cazut la datorie, împuscat de un bursier sud- coreean, în momentul în care se pregatea sa înceapa cursul în amfiteatrul universitatii. Stirea despre carnagiu a facut inconjurul planetei si a facut sa curga lacrimi in America, unde profesorul preda si locuia cu sotia, in Israel, unde are doi fii si multi prieteni, dar si in Romania.
Despre profesorul Liviu Librescu s-a spus ca a fost un adevarat erou. Profesor de aeronautica la Universitatea Tehnica din statul american Virginia, dascalul a murit dupa ce l-a infruntat pe atacatorul care a produs cel mai mare masacru din istoria scolilor americane. Chiar daca regimul Antonescu i-a trimis tatal in lagarul de exterminare din Transnistria, profesorul Liviu Librescu iubea Romania si vorbea cu placere despre Focsani, orasul in care a trait mai multi ani si unde venea adesea inainte de razboi pentru a-si vizita bunicii din partea mamei. "Imi face placere intotdeauna sa primesc stiri care imi amintesc de orasul in care am petrecut multi ani, desi au fost ani de suferinta, cind tatii nostri, al meu si al sotiei mele, au avut domiciliul fortat in Focsani. Au fost vremuri foartegrele pentru noi! Tatal meu a fost deportat de aici in Transnistria dupa ce a lucrat o vreme la Soveja, intr-un batalion de munca", ne-a povestit profesorul Liviu Librescu cu putin inainte de tragedia in care avea sa sfirseasca. La Focsani, Liviu Librescu si-a cunoscut si sotia, pe Marilena Semian, fiica unui stomatolog cunoscut in orasul acelor vremi, cu care s-a casatorit in anul 1968. Sotia sa, medic de profesie, a urmat liceul de fete din Focsani, dupa care a absolvit facultatea de medicina. Ulterior si-a urmat sotul in Israel si mai apoi in Blackburg - SUA, unde a primit o bursa. Cei doi au avut impreuna doi fii, Arie si Iosef, de profesie ingineri, care traiesc in Israel.
<b>"Munca obligatorie la Focsani"</b>
"In anii copilariei, scrie profesorul Liviu Librescu intr-unul din e- mailurile sale, inaintea inceperii razboiului, Focsaniul a constituit pentru mine orasul in care veneam cu parintii sa-mi vizitez bunica, Paulina Finkelstein, mama mamei mele, si de asemeni, familiilesurorilor mamei mele, Ianconescu si Filderman. Impreuna cu parintii mei, Izidor si Mina Librescu, locuiam atunci la Ploiesti. Tatal meu era avocat, dar din motive rasiale, in tot timpul razboiului, a fost radiat din baroul de avocati. Tatal meu a fost dus la lagarul de la Teis. Dupa desfiintarea lagarului, a fost trimis cu domiciliul fortat la Focsani. In 1942, ne-am mutat la Focsani pentru a ne reuni cu tata, dar vremurile potrivnice au facut ca el sa fie trimis la munca obligatorie la Focsani, apoi la Soveja. Dupa Soveja, a fost deportat in Transnistria. Dupa razboi s-a intors cu sanatatea mult subrezita si cu moralul foarte scazut. Tata a reintrat in barou, dar in anul 1948, cind regimul comunist s-a instaurat la putere, a fost din nou radiat pentru motivul ca s-a opus "democratizarii baroului". Au fost ani foarte grei pentru noi", scria profesorul Liviu Librescu.
<b>Fortat de comunisti sa demisioneze</b>
In ciuda nenumaratelor probleme pe care le-a intimpinat in copilarie, profesorul Liviu Librescu a urmat politehnica la Bucuresti, sectia de aviatie, pe care, dupa cum ne-a spus, a absovit-o in anul 1953. Dupa o cariera prodigioasa, a ajuns un nume in domeniul sau, obtinind zeci de premii si titluri onorifice internationale. Pentru a ajunge in Israel, pe vremea comunismului, a trebuit sa renunte la tot in Romania. "Pentru a putea depune actele de emigrare in Israel a trebuit in anul 1975 sa-mi dau demisia si am fost fortat sa stau trei ani fara lucru", a tinut sa mai spuna profesorul. "In Israel am fost atestat profesor la Tel-Aviv University. In anul 1985 am plecat in «sabatical», la Virginia Polytechnic Institute in U.S.A. De atunci, lucrez aici ca profesor la Engineering Sciens and Mecanics Department. Am desfasurat activitate stiintifica materializata prin trei carti si peste 300 articole aparute in reviste internationale de specialitate", a continuat cel care avea sa fie ucis in timp ce incerca sa tina piept atacatorului care a omorit 32 de persoane si a ranit alte 29 in campusul universitar. Aproape deloc cunoscut in Focsani, profesorulLibrescu este recunoscut in SUA ca fondatorul teoriei si aplicatiilor in domeniul structurilor de tip sandwich. Munca sa de cercetare, dupa cum se arata si in impresionantul sau CV, publicat pe site-ul universitatii, a inclus domeniul aerospatial cu aplicatii NASA. Facea parte din consiliile editoriale ale mai multor publicatii de specialitate si a prezidat numeroase congrese internationale in inginerie mecanica.
<b>Invitat la Focsani luna viitoare</b>
Apreciatul profesor a fost coleg de scoala la Focsani cu alti evrei cunoscuti, printre care si cu Zvi Ben Dov, fost director al aeroportului din Tel Aviv, actualmente director general al organizatiei A.M.I.R., care are ca scop infiintarea unui muzeu al evreimii romane. Fosti colegi la Colegiul Unirea, cei doi tineau in ultimul timp legatura prin Internet, dat fiind ca Zvi Ben Dov a scris in Israel, in limba ebraica, doua carti despre comunitatea in care s-a nascut si i-a reunit aici pe toti focsanenii israelieni. Liviu Librescu ne-a spus ca de oameni ca Zvi Ben Dov sau Matei Grisaru il leaga amintiri de neuitat din anii de scoala primara. Pentru ca a reintrat in legatura cu prietenii din copilarie, astazi cetateni ai statului Israel, profesorul Liviu Librescu a fost invitat in luna mai sa viziteze Focsaniul, alaturi de cei dornici sa revada locurile copilariei. "Inainte de Paste i-am trimis lui Liviu felicitari si mi-a rapuns cu multa amabilitate. I-am scis ca plecam la Focsani sa ne vizitam orasul copilariei noastre si l-am invitat sa vina cu noi, intr-o excursie de suflet. Liviu mi-a raspuns ca din pacate nu poate sa fie cu noi, pentru ca era implicat in unele proiecte la universitate, desi i-ar fi placut sa revada locurile copilariei. Am vorbit cu prietenii nostri si saptamina viitoare o sa fie adus aici, in Israel, unde va fi inmormintat. Eu am sa fiu acolo", ne-a spus Zvi Ben Dov, "motorul" comunitatii de vrinceni din Israel si cel mai focsanean dintre israelieni, cum a fost numit de cei peste 300 de membri ai comunitatii evreilor plecati din orasul de pe Milcov.
<b>Ura violenta, ucis de violenta</b>
Profesorul Liviu Librescu ura violenta si dorea sa arate tuturor ororile Holocaustului, in special cele din Romania, unde au fost exterminati peste 500.000 de evrei. Ca o ironie a sortii a cazut prada furiei violentei chiar in timp ce dorea sa ne faca tututor cunoscuta tragedia care a cuprins si meleagurile noastre acum 60 de ani. Fara indoiala, acest carnagiu ne arata ca intelegerea Holocaustului este mai necesara ca oricind, pentru ca astfel de evenimente sa nu se mai repete. In acest context, trebuie spus ca profesorul Liviu Librescu se numara printre cei care au cerut insistent Institutului Yad Vashem din Israel, memorialul dedicat celor sase milioane de evrei omoriti in timpul Holocaustului, decorarea reginei mama Elena cu titlul de "Dreapta intre popoare". Titlul se acorda de catre statul Israel celor care si-au riscat viata pentru salvarea de vieti evreiesti in perioada Holocaustului. Iata ca dupa mai mult de 60 de ani, profesorul Liviu Librescu avea sa-si sacrifice propria viata pentru a-i salva pe studentii sai de la Universitatea Tehnica din Virginia.
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Sursa Originala: <a href="http://www.ziaruldevrancea.ro/index.php?articol=11768">http://www.ziaruldevrancea.ro/index.php?articol=11768</a>
Silvia Vrinceanu Nichita
2007-06-04
Adriana Seagle
Silvia Vranceanu (silvia@ziaruldevrancea.ro)
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