Géza Kertész (18 November 1894 – 6 February 1945), also known as Kertész IV, was a Hungarian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er and manager from

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He is most noted for his career as a football manager in Italy at clubs such as

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

Death

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Kertesz returned from Italy to Hungary in 1943, when he was recalled to serve as lieutenant-colonel in the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground ...

in training role. In liaison with the American secret service he set up a clandestine resistance network with former teammate Istvan Toth which rescued many Hungarian partisans and Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps during German occupation and

Arrow Cross Party The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National ...

rule, sometimes disguising himself as a German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

officer for cover. He was denounced to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

by an informer for sheltering Jews and was executed at

alongside Toth on 6 February 1945, a few days before the city was liberated by the Soviet forces.
news archive in Hungarian, from Four Four Two, ''Toth-Potya, Brull, Kertesz - Soccer victims of the Holocaust'', accessed 17 May 2021. His body and that of Toth were reburied together with honour at

Kerepesi Cemetery Kerepesi Cemetery (Hungarian: ''Kerepesi úti temető'' or ''Kerepesi temető'', official name: ''Fiumei úti nemzeti sírkert'', i.e. "Fiume Road National Graveyard") is the most famous cemetery in Budapest. It is one of the oldest cemeteries in ...

, Budapest, in April 1946.

References

1894 births 1945 deaths Footballers from Budapest Hungarian footballers Association football midfielders Ferencvárosi TC footballers Spezia Calcio players Hungarian football managers Carrarese Calcio managers U.S. Salernitana 1919 managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers Catania S.S.D. managers Atalanta B.C. managers S.S. Lazio managers A.S. Roma managers Újpest FC managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Hungarian expatriate football managers People executed by the Government of National Unity (Hungary) Hungary international footballers Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery Hungarian resistance members {{Hungary-footy-midfielder-stub