The story of this place
In the winter of 1944-45, militiamen of the fascist Arrow Cross Party marched Jews to the edge of the Danube in Budapest, ordered them to remove their shoes — a valuable commodity — and shot them so their bodies fell into the freezing water and were carried away. Thousands were murdered this way. Created in 2005 by sculptor Gyula Pauer and filmmaker Can Togay, the memorial is sixty pairs of rusted iron shoes of 1940s style, cast and fixed to the stone embankment where the killings happened. There are men's boots, women's heels, and tiny children's shoes. Small plaques and candles left by visitors turn an empty riverbank into one of the most quietly devastating memorials in Europe.