The pastoral jungle and Caribbean Sea of Puerto Viejo feel like the farthest place on earth from the bleeding Europe of the 1940s. But this coming Holocaust Remembrance Day eve, the living room of BINA House will become a rare bridge between times and continents. Claudio Ambroso will join us to reveal an extraordinary historical puzzle of his family—one family saved through two completely different paths, documented in two separate historical diaries.
The Diary of a Modern Girl: Resourcefulness and the Escape to Freedom
The first part of the story belongs to Claudio’s mother, Liana Ruberl. Liana was an Italian-Jewish girl who grew up in Milan. Between 1935 and 1943, she kept a vibrant teenage diary (which later won a prestigious literary prize in Italy). Through her eyes, we do not read about concentration camps, but about a bourgeois, rebellious, and emancipated girl writing about first loves, idolizing movie stars, and the burden of the fascist racial laws that turned her, on one clear day, into an outcast.
The survival of the Ruberl family is a story of active pursuit and extraordinary resourcefulness. Liana’s father, Rudolf, foresaw the approaching disaster. Under the guise of “pastoral mountain hikes” near the Swiss border, and while his beautiful daughters flirted with the Italian border guards, he laid the groundwork for their escape. In September 1943, right as the Germans invaded Italy, the family paid a bribe and crossed the border into Switzerland just moments before the gates were locked.
The Hiding Closet in Budapest: The Uncompromising Grace of a Christian Doctor
But while Liana and her family found a safe haven in Switzerland, the other half of the family—her mother’s family (Lakos)—remained trapped in Budapest, Hungary. There, survival did not depend on resourcefulness and money, but on the pure grace of a stranger.
This is the story of Claudio’s great-aunt, Irene (Laci) Lakos, and his young cousin Alfred, then 7 years old. The person who saved them was Dr. Maria (Madi) Kiss, a Hungarian Catholic doctor, who hid them in her Budapest apartment right under the noses of the Nazis and the fascist Arrow Cross guards. Every time a surprise search was conducted in the building, Irene and little Alfred were forced to hide in total silence inside a narrow closet to be saved from certain death.
The chilling twist in the story? Dr. Madi also kept a personal diary (in English) where she described the terror of the bombings, the fear of surprise raids, and life in the shadow of danger. Thanks to that diary, Dr. Madi Kiss was recognized in 2015 as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Two Sides of Survival
Claudio comes to our living room carrying this dual legacy: on the one hand, the bold and active survival of his mother who escaped through the mountains, and on the other hand, the helplessness and passive survival of his aunt in Budapest, whose lives were saved solely due to the courageous moral choice of one woman who could not stand idly by.
In days when we are all wandering, traveling, and searching for our place in the world, this story reminds us of how quickly life can turn upside down, and to what extent the human spirit—whether through resourcefulness or compassion—can overcome the greatest darkness of all.
We invite you to a moving, intimate, and unforgettable evening of memory, testimony, and community connection.
When? Monday, 04/13/2026 Where? The living room of BINA House, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Space is limited, please confirm your attendance on our website.