Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Holocaust survivor hero of Virginia Tech shootings

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

A candlelight vigil on the campus of Virginia Tech on Tuesday night.

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Hero of the Hokies | 12:19 PM ET

President Bush has anointed the first hero of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Liviu Librescu threw his body in front of the door to his classroom while his student escaped through the windows. Cho Seung-Hui was on the other side, trying to make another stop in his shooting spree at Norris Hall that left 30 dead.

Mr. Librescu was apparently hit by a bullet that pierced the classroom door, USAToday wrote.

“We take strength from his example,” the president said today at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

The location was fitting because Professor Librescu, who was 76, survived the Holocaust, only to be killed on Yom Hashoah, the international day that commemorates Holocaust victims,” The Times story on the victims said.

Across the Web, many others have paid tribute to the professor. One report was recommended by almost 3,000 users at Digg, a social news site.

While his life included important achievements on aeronautical engineering, his role in two moments in history called out for a connection, which a blogger at Powerline made with grace:

More than sixty years after his liberation, the rescued became the rescuer.

theteach

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