Shoes on the Danube Bank

Today, Budapest is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe (Schwarzbaum). The city has the second largest synagogue in the world (Schwarzbaum), and District 7 is known not only for its great ruin pubs and bubbly night life, but also for its Jewish culture. However, Jews have not always lived happily in the area. On March 19, 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary and during their stay (until April 4, 1945), together with their supporters in the Arrow Cross Party led by Ferenc Szálasi, they issued a number of anti-Semitic measures and killed thousands of innocent people.

To honor the memory of the Jewish people killed by the Arrow Cross party during World War II, 60 pairs of iron shoes lay on the Pest side of the river. They symbolize the people who had to take off their shoes before they were shot dead and fell into the Danube. The monument was created by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer. It was erected on April 16, 2005, and it can be found near Kossuth square. Togay says that the aim of their project was to commemorate those people and to make sure that Budapest never forgets (Cipők a Dunaparton). According to Pauer Gyula’s website, the memorial is the “result of civil initiatives.” The Prime Minister’s Office, the Council of District 5, and many others donated to make it possible to create the monument.

Pauer Gyula experienced the horrors of the war as a little child. He says that he understood very little as a four-year-old, and only comprehended gradually what had happened. Later he became interested in the topic of the holocaust as a sculptor, and one night he and Togay came up with the idea of commemorating the victims this way.

If one walks by, the memorial cannot be missed. Someone is always standing right beside it, staring into the river or comparing their foot to the one that once was in the iron shoe. Each year on April 16 (which is the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Day) hundreds of people come to the shoes to honor the memory of the victims. 

This year, however, the commemoration was overshadowed by anti-Semitic actions: some of the Hungarian Holocaust deniers spat into the iron shoes on the Danube bank. The event was followed by speeches by Tamás Horovitz (head of the Central and Eastern European Jewish Communities and Unions) and Holocaust survivor Gusztáv Zoltai, who asked to raise awareness of the growing number anti-Semitic people in the country (ma.hu).

Works cited

“Az áldozatokra emlékeztek a Cipők a Duna-parton emlékműnél.” ma.hu. ma.hu, April 16, 2015. Web. May 9, 2015.

 “Cipők a Duna-parton.” Pauer Gyula website. pauergyula.hu.

Schwarzbaum, Lisa. “Tracing Jewish Heritage Along the Danube.” New York Times. New York Times, March 13, 2015. Web. April 20, 2015.