Travel Tales: Shoes on the Danube Promenade

Remembrance in Budapest

The beautiful city of Budapest

is divided in two by the Danube

River.  One side is called Buda

and the other Pest.

On the Pest side near the

Hungarian Parliament is a

haunting tribute to the Jews

who fell victim to the Arrow

Cross militiamen during

World War II.

Sixty pair of period-appropriate

shoes made of iron rest along

the banks of the Danube.

The tribute shows the shoes

left behind on the bank from

victims who were shot and

pushed into the river.  This

was easier for the militia, since

they did not have to deal

with burial of the bodies.

The victims had to remove their

shoes since they were considered

valuable at the time.  Sadly, their

lives were not considered valuable.