The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial commemorates the WWII victims of the ultra-far-right Hungarian Arrow Cross Party.
Memorial & History
The memorial is dedicated to the 2600–3600 victims (many Jewish) who were brutally shot at the bank of the Danube River between 1944-45 by the ultra-far-right Hungarian political party known as the Arrow Cross.
Prior to their execution, these people were ordered to take off their footwear, as shoes were regarded as valuables during the war.
Once shot, the victims fell into the water, and the river carried away the bodies.
Can Togay, a film director, conceptualized the idea of the 60 iron pairs of shoes on the Danube together with the sculptor Gyula Pauer. Empty shoes along the riverbank symbolize the lives lost.
The Holocaust memorial was inaugurated in 2005, which was the 60th anniversary of the horrible atrocities and crimes against humanity.
A memorial plaque with inscriptions in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew says, To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45, erected 16 April 2005.
Another WWII memorial is located in the gardens of the Dohány Synagogue in Budapest.
Location
The iron shoes are located on the Pest side of Budapest, along the eastern shores of the Danube River, about 300 meters behind the Hungarian Parliament Building.
This is probably one of the most visited and saddest Holocaust memorials you will come across in Budapest.
