Liliana Crociatti

AfterLife

Documentando el Cementerio de la Recoleta en Buenos Aires desde el 2007

312. liliana crociati de szaszak • ◊
08 Mar 2009

Poor Liliana. She’s filed under urban legends only because no one can get the story straight… Part of 1960s high society, Liliana went on vacation in Austria when she was 26. She & her husband couldn’t return as planned because winter snow had beenexceptionally heavy & roads were blocked. On an early February morning in 1970, an avalanche covered the hotel where she was staying. The force of the snow broke several windows & filled most of her room. Liliana was found on her bed covered in blankets but only lived a few hours after her rescue. Death was attributed to lack of oxygen & exposure to severe cold. The statue of Liliana with elongatedfeatures always draws a crowd. Inscribed on the base is the name of her dog, Sabú. The greenery outside the vault & a modern Neogothic design also make the resting place of Liliana stand out:

Through the glass door, an oil portrait of Liliana hangs above the staircase… usually credited to one of Liliana’s friends in the School of Fine Arts:

The occasional cat likes to sit with Sabú in the tallgrass:

So where does the mystery come in? There seem to be more versions of Liliana’s tragic death than even Rufina Cambacérès can claim. No one mentions what happened to her husband. Did he die in the avalanche? If not, where is he now? Some people say that Sabú died in Buenos Aires on the same day as Liliana. Doubt it. Others say that Sabú passed away earlier but was Liliana’s favorite pet,hence his place with her for eternity. There are even tales of Sabú being added later to the statue… highly unlikely given the position of Liliana’s hands. And apparently to add more tragedy, some versions of the story say that Liliana was on her honeymoon & the garment she wears in the statue is her wedding dress.

What’s the real scoop? Someone in the family must still be alive to set the recordstraight. Otherwise, a look through 1970s microfilm of Buenos Aires newspapers might hold a few clues. At least avalanche.org corroborates part of the tragedy; from February 19-24, 1970 a series of avalanches in St. Sigmund im Sellrain near Innsbruck claimed four fatalities. One of those must have been Liliana. ———————————— Update (21 Dec 2009): It’s amazing how an urban legend can quickly getout of control & lead to comments like those for this particular post. After being contacted by Sven Szaszak who claimed to be the son of Juan Szaszak after he remarried, I asked Sven if he could provide any photos of Juan & Liliana together or help in some other way. Immediately someone claiming to be another relative, Trixie, went on a rampage. That didn’t help. So Marcelo visited the newspaperarchives in La Plata & found the following facts… La Nación, 26 February 1970 Argentine tourists—Vienna, 25 (AP) Among the 16,000 tourists blocked by snow in

the eastern Austrian provinces of Tirol & Vorarlberg are Juan Szaszak, 31 years old, of Hungarian origin but an Argentine citizen, who squads managed to rescue after 15 minutes of searching. His wife, 24 years old, was pulled from under thesnow after one hour of hard labor. It is reported that in spite of her critical condition, doctors trust that they can save her:

La Prensa, 26 February 1970 Difficult situation in Austria for two Argentines—Innsbruck, Austria, 25 (UP) An Argentine couple was buried by an avalanche which happened in the Tirol region but shortly after were rescued alive from the hotel room they occupied. Policeinformed that Mrs. Liliana Szaszak, 24 years old, is in critical condition. Her husband, Juan, 31 years old born in Hungary was not injured. The couple slept in their third floor resort, 64 km west of Innsbruck, through the window & filled their minutes, but his wife could only be revived with oxygen. room at the Piz Buin hotel in the Zuers winter when the snow from the avalanche entered room....