Budapest: Shoes on the Danube
Created by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer, the Shoes on the Danube memorial honors the Jews killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen during World War II. On January 8, 1945, the victims were pulled from a building on Vadasz Street rented by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg in order to hide and protect them. They were marched to the bank of the Danube, ordered to remove their shoes, and shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away.
Sixty pairs of shoes — men’s, women’s, and children’s — have been cast in iron and affixed to the stone embankment where they somberly remind all who stroll along the beautiful Danube of the horrible tragedy that took place here during World War II.
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I can’t bring myself to “like” this post because there’s nothing to like about this tragic event. But *thank you* for keeping the memory of these 60 people alive through your beautiful photo and your words.