Obj. ID: 42472
Memorials “The Shoes on the Danube Promenade” (Danube River Monument) in Budapest, Hungary, 2005
Who is Commemorated?
[Jewish] victims of Arrow Cross militiamen
Description:
Along the promenade are sixty pairs of shoes strewn seemingly at random. These are made of iron, and carefully and intentionally made to appear worn and of the type worn in the 1940s. There are women's, men's, and children's shoes. Though they appear to be scattered at random, they are, in fact, carefully placed to evoke the moments immediately after their owners had stepped out of them, and then been shot or pushed still alive into the cold water of the Danube. The shoes are meant to evoke the actual murder of the Jews on the river bank, but also to more generally symbolize the tragic loss of so many lives during the Holocaust.
The iron shoes are attached to the stone embankment, and behind them lies a 40 meter long, 70 cm high stone bench.
At three points are cast iron signs, with the following identical text in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew.
Inscriptions:
In Hungarian:
Az 1944-45-ben nyilaskeresztes
fegyveresek által Dunába lőtt
áldozatok emlékére
Állíttatott 2005, április 16-án
Translation: To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross gunmen in 1944–45. Erected April 16, 2005.
In Hebrew:
לזכר קרבנות שנורו ונרצחו
ע"י אנשי צלב החץ על שפת הדנובה
ב-1945-1944
זכרונם לברכה
הוקם ז' ניסן תשס"ה
Translation: To the memory of the victims who was shot and killed by the Arrow Cross men on the shore of the Danube in 1944-1945. Be their memory blessed. Erected 7 Nisan 5765.
In English:
To the memory of the victims
shot into the Danube
by Arrow Cross militiamen
in 1944–45
Erected 16th April, 2005
Commissioned by
?
12 image(s)
sub-set tree:
The memorial on the banks of the Danube uses cast shoes and boots to signify the victims who were shot and thrown into the icy river in 1944-45 by Arrow Cross militiamen. The memorial was envisioned by film director Can Togay, who worked with sculptor Gyula Pauer to realize the memorial which was installed on the Pest bank of the Danube River in 2005.
Ochayon, Sheryl Silver. “The Shoes on the Danube Promenade – Commemoration of the Tragedy,” Yad Vashem website, https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/shoes-on-the-danube-promenade.html (accessed December 16, 2021)
Reeves, T. Zane, Shoes Along the Danube: Based on a True Story (Durham: Strategic Book Group, 2011)