24/01/2024
The famous "Shoes on the Danube" memorial is really moving. I usually include it in all my Budapest tours.
The 2 stories I want to share are:
1) the real historic event
2) how the artist(s) got the idea to create the memorial
1) The real history briefly
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Close to the end of WW2 the Holocaust was very harsh in Hungary. Hungarian N***s (known as Arrow Cross Militiamen - see picture below) killed thousands and thousands of Jews (but many others as well such as gipsies, handicapped, homosexuals etc) by taking them to the ice-cold river Danube (mainly in Nov-Dec 1944 and Jan 1945), told them to line up, take off their shoes (and wintercoats) and then they shot those people into the river. This happened several times, not only once.
Today (in order to remember these events) bronze shoes are erected on the spot as a memorial, see pictures below.
2) How the artists got the idea
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A sculptor and painter (Gyula Pauer) created the bronze shoes that look exactly like the shoes people used to wear at that time. His friend, a movie director (Can Togay) came up with the idea because he saw an old movie made in 1955 (Budapest Spring - see old poster below). Zoltan is in love with Judith (Jewish girl) and one day when he comes home he can't find her. He starts to look for her in the streets and finally goes down to the river where he recognizes Judith's shoes at the river bank ... (maybe the ones in the picture below). Then he realizes what happened to his love.
This moment in the movie inspired the artists to create this moving memorial.
Come to Budapest and don't miss the "Shoes on the Danube" memorial.
