As a graduate of the fencing and gymnastics course at the Wiener-Neustadt school in Austria, Stefan von Kerec (a Germanised version of his Croatian name, Stjepan Kerec) inherited the Italian fencing tradition introduced by Luigi Barbasetti starting in the mid-1890s, which Kerec reproduces in his 1928 book Fechtlehrbuch für Florett und leichten Säbel ('Fencing textbook for foil and light sabre'), published in Leipzig, where he was teaching at the time.
Scans: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bTxdkViWG5tkSi4FjRzi1Cr9pwS3ermv/view?usp=sharing
Unlike a typical fencing treatise, Kerec's book is not broken down by technique, but rather it takes the form of a structured fencing course, with 179 lessons for foil and 153 for sabre. As would be expected, Kerec's sabre method includes the early teaching of the traditional Radaellian molinelli or geschwungene Hiebe. One feature of Kerec's method that is typically associated with the Hungarian branch, however, is the obtuse angle he maintains between the sabre and extended arm when cutting. The Hungarians employed this technique to prevent stop-cuts to the arm, with a slight reduction to their own attacking distance.
 |
| 22. End position of the head cut with a lunge |
In addition to teaching in Leipzig, Kerec would be a key figure in promoting fencing in his native Croatia, teaching fencing to various national figures such as Josip Broz Tito, and would go on to publish a second fencing book in 1951 on foil, épée, sabre, and...dussack! You can read more about him here.
