MILAN - Arpad Weisz had three different lives, transcending the history of humanity and Inter. First, he was a player who moved to Italy. Secondly, he was a Coach, proving himself as one of the best in the 1930s. A young, innovative and brilliant tactician who claimed silverware. For Inter who were named Ambrosiana at the time, he won the league when it was played in a round-robin format for the first time with the great Giuseppe Meazza leading the way in the goalscoring charts. Third and finally, he was forced to flee from Nazism, before being sent to Auschwitz where he was killed on 31 January 1944. Three very different lives, so different that it seems almost impossible for one man to have lived through it all.
75 years on, Inter will once again play in his memory. On Sunday 3rd February, exactly a week on from Holocaust Memorial Day, Inter will face Bologna, the club who Weisz guided to two league titles. Corporate CEO of FC Internazionale Milano Alessandro Antonello and Bologna’s CEO Claudio Fenucci will swap shirts with the number 18 which signifies life in Hebrew. A ceremony will also take place in front of the plaque in his honour which was installed on 27 January 2012 in the Executive Room at the Stadio Meazza.
Arpad Weisz’s incredible life tells a tale that demonstrates both the emotional power of football and the insanity of Nazism. His story will be told at the Shoah Memorial at Piazza Edmond J. Safra 1 -Milan- with the ‘Arpad WEISZ se il razzismo entra in campo’ exhibition. It will open on 26 February and the public can visit until 14 April 2019.
