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Louis "Rudi" Leviticus

In October 1942, Louis Leviticus, aged 11, escaped a police raid in Amersfoort, Netherlands, where his family was hiding from the Nazi onslaught by jumping off a 3rd floor veranda from their apartment. An awning broke his fall allowing him to escape. He never saw his parents again. Finding his way to the Dutch underground, Lou survived the war under false identity. He was known by his undercover name, “Rudi,” to his friends and family throughout his life. Later, he was sent to Israel from a Polish orphanage. Lou served in the Israeli army and studied engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. After earning his Ph.D. at Purdue University, Lou served as director of the University of Nebraska's Tractor Test Lab from the late 1970s through his retirement in 1998. He continued working as volunteer curator at the Larsen Tractor Museum on East Campus. Lou wrote his memoir under the pseudonym "Ben Wajikra" taken from Hebrew words meaning "Son of Leviticus" in memory of Max and Sera Leviticus, his parents. Hear Lou's testimony in his own words.