"Shoes on the Danube Bank”
"נעליים בטיילת הדנובה"
The Shoes on the Danube Promenade, created by Gyula Pauer and Can Togay, is a memorial on the bank of the Danube in Budapest. It is located on the Pest side of the Danube Promenade, about300 m south of the Hungarian Parliament and near the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
“A Cipők a Duna-parton elnevezésű kompozíció a nyilasterror idején Dunába lőtt embereknek állít emléket. A szobrászművész hatvan pár korhű lábbelit formált meg vasból. A parti szegély terméskövére erősített cipök mögött negyven méter hosszúságú, hetven centiméter magas kőpad húzódik. Az emlékhely három pontján öntöttvas táblákon magyarul, angolul és héberül olvasható a felirat: "A nyilaskeresztes fegyveresek által Dunába lőtt áldozatok emlékére állíttatott április 16-án". MTI április 16.
People stop, watch, some take photos, others light candles or put flowers.
Some notice the plaques ( they are there, on the pavement, but not very visible, you have to look for them), others just look at the shoes. Some know what they stand for, others – don’t.
Some even tried to put their feet in the shoes – THEY probably didn’t know their meaning.
Translation : “The composition entitled 'Shoes on the Danube Bank' gives remembrance to the people shot into the Danube during the time of the Arrow Cross terror. The sculptor created sixty pairs of period-appropriate shoes out of iron. The 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 text in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew: "To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in Erected 16 April 2005." (source: MTI, Saturday, April 16, 2005.)
This plaque stands on the bank of the Danube, where the Nazis shot thousands and thousands of Jews, tossing them into the river during the Holocaust.
The bank of the Danube river is very peaceful in the evening. As the sun is setting, it gently illuminates the backdrop of the shoe memorial. May,2008