Shoes on the Danube – Budapest, Hungary

Budapest is a beautiful city known for its architecture, grand bridges. thermal bathhouses and a vibrant culinary scene. Among these pleasures, one of the most poignant moments of our visit came along the banks of the Danube.

There, along the river’s edge, is a memorial known as “Shoes on the Danube Bank.” There are dozens of iron shoes placed as if abandoned: men’s work boots, women’s dress shoes, and small children’s shoes sit facing the river.

This memorial marks the site where, in 1944-45, Jewish residents of Budapest were murdered by members of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party. Even as it became clear that the Nazis were losing the war, hatred and violence did not stop. Families were marched to this spot, ordered to remove their shoes, and then shot so their bodies would fall into the Danube and be carried away by the current.  

The memorial is so powerful as ordinary shoes are left behind forever. The Shoes on the Danube Bank insists on remembrance and offers us a moment to witness and carry these stories forward so they are never forgotten.