Along the picturesque promenade following the banks of the Danube River in Budapest, HU
is the subtle, yet particularly powerful memorial, Shoes on the Danube Promenade.
During WWII the moderate government of Hungary was toppled by Germany.
Hungarian right-wing extremists, the Arrow Cross Party, took control. During the Arrow Cross
reign, 1944 - 45, tens of thousands of Jews, Romani and others considered as "undesirable"
were deported to concentration camps, confined to ghettos and executed.
Among the most atrocious acts of the Arrow Cross was, during the extremely cold winter,
forcing the targeted men, women and little children to the Danube's bank. At gunpoint they were
made to remove their leather shoes, which were a scarce commodity in WWII. They were
then tied together with cord and brutally executed, falling into the water to be washed away.
Nearly 20,000 innocents were so murdered by their own countrymen, because they were "different".
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Sixty pairs of bronze shoes of the styles commonly worn by women, men and little children during
the 1940's are permanently placed along the Danube. Their random placement is as it likely was
when the innocents murdered here were forced to remove their shoes before being shot and tumbled
into freezing waters. Those visiting this site commemorate the victims with flowers, pebbles and prayers.
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