Milan stages exhibition for star Hungarian footballer taken to Auschwitz

As a coach, Weisz was ahead of his time: charismatic, a good communicator, a master tactician whose 1930 handbook The Game of Football encompasses technique, psychology, players’ characteristics and duties.

The book reflected Weisz’s hands-on approach and his nose for talent-scouting that spotted Giuseppe Meazza, a skinny 17-year-old who went on to become Italy’s first football superstar.

But, after 1938, Weisz was no longer welcome. He tried unsuccessfully to find work in France and appeared to get a lifeline coaching a Dutch side, Dordrecht, but that was short-lived.

In 1942, Arpad, his wife Elena and two children, Roberto and Clara, were deported to Auschwitz. Elena and the children were gassed immediately, but Arpad himself survived until January 1944.

Forgotten for decades, Weisz has recently become a beacon in the fight against racism. First came a memorial plaque at Milan’s San Siro Stadium in 2012, then in 2013 an acclaimed biography, From the scudetto to Auschwitz, followed by a friendly tournament held every year in his name between the Inter and Bologna under-17 teams.

Most recently, during a match between Inter and Bologna, shirts bearing his name and the number 18 (which numerically means “life” in Hebrew) were exchanged.

Given Weisz’s story’s tragic ending, it seems particularly fitting that this exhibition should take place at Milan’s Shoah Memorial.

Located at what used to be platform 21 of the city’s central station, on a sublevel below the main tracks, this is where in the 1940s deportees were loaded on to livestock cars destined for the camps. It is a journey Weisz would have recognised only too well.

‘Arpad Weisz – Se il razzismo entra in campo’ will run in Milan until April 14