Monument in Budapest - Shoes on the Danube Embankment. "Shoes on the Danube embankment" in Budapest - a monument dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust Monument shoes on the Danube embankment budapest hungary

The Danube is the great and mighty river of Europe, originating in the Alps, its delta passes through vast territories up to the Black Sea. Many large cities, such as Budapest, Vienna and Belgrade, are located on its banks. Rivers give not only life, but also magnificent landscapes that we tirelessly enjoy. On the banks of large rivers, embankments have been built for a long time, which are intended for recreation. The Danube embankment in Budapest is a magnificent sight. A wide cobbled street with stone and iron benches under the spreading crowns of magnificent trees. It stretches from the Szechenyi Chain Bridge to the Elisabeth Bridge.

History of occurrence

The Danube embankment began to enjoy particular popularity as a place to relax back in the 19th century. In 1867 construction began on the first luxury waterfront hotel, the Hungaria Bristol. For some time, the Ritz and Carlton appeared. Their cafes overlooking the Danube and the Buda Castle were very popular at the time. This continued until the Second World War, during which the hotels and the embankment were badly damaged.

Architecture

The Danube embankment includes the Roman City of Aquincum (the ruins of a 4th-century castle), Gresham-Palot, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Vigadó Concert Hall. On the waterfront is the famous Gerbeaud coffee house, a particularly popular place among European bohemians. Sculptures of famous people from Hungary and other countries will definitely attract your attention. These include sculptures by Istvan Széchenyi (next to the Academy of Sciences), Jozsef Eötvös, Jozsef Nador, Attila Jozsef, Mihai Veresmati, William Shakespeare, Petofi Sandor, as well as the sea memorial anchor "Ungvar" and the little princess. The main attraction of the waterfront is the cast-iron shoes made by Gyula Power and Kan Togei in 2005. The memorial was created in memory of the Jews who were shot on the banks of the Danube. They were forced to take off their shoes at the very edge of the embankment, and when people were shot, their bodies fell into the Danube and were carried away by the current. This memorial is next to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences south of the Hungarian Parliament. The memorial includes 60 pairs of iron shoes attached to stone and a memorial plaque with the text "In memory of the victims shot on the Danube by the Nazis in 1944-45." The opening of the memorial took place on April 16, 2005.

Neighborhood

The Danube embankment runs between the most elegant Elisabeth Bridge and the Chain Bridge. Also in the vicinity are: Szechenyi Square, Margaret Bridge, the statue of St. Stephen, the Palace of Arts, Mount Gellert, Veresmaty Square, Heroes Square, Vaci Street, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Inner City Church, the historical center, the castle hill and the Fisherman's Bastion. Since the Danube embankment is located in the center of the historic quarter, there are a great many hotels and apartments here. On the waterfront itself are La Prima Fashion Hotel, Budai Sport Hotel and Carlton Hotel Budapest. In the vicinity of the waterfront, the most popular are: Apartment Vaci, Gerloczy Rooms de Lux, Buddha-Bar Hotel Budapest Klotild Palace, Hotel Zenit Budapest Palace, Purposes of the court - Marriott Executive Apartments, City Hotel Pilvax, Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest and Leo Panzio Hotel.

Note to the tourist

You can get to the Danube embankment by tram number 2. During the Christmas holidays, you can watch a magnificent sight: tram route number 2A is richly decorated with hundreds of luminous garlands, and they follow along the embankment with several stops.

I have seen many monuments to the victims of the Holocaust erected in different countries. Shoes on the Danube are one of the most heartbreaking. These shoes, they mean and symbolize so much that a few words can't do it.

Where is the memorial

I found this monument on the Korzo Embankment, not far from the building of the Hungarian Parliament. I went to him on purpose, intentionally, I was determined to what impression what I saw would make on me, but in any case, it is impossible to prepare for this.

What is the memorial "Shoes on the Embankment"

For each visit to the memorials to the victims of the Holocaust, I prepare in advance. I need a mood, because every time is incredibly hard. And before I tell you what impressions the monument made on me, I will say a few words about the history of its creation.

The whole horror of the Jewish tragedy in Budapest during the Second World War was that the Jews were persecuted and destroyed not by the German Nazis, but by the locals, who were members of the Arrow Cross party, which professed Nazism as a national idea. And even worse, the Jews were dying here already at the end of the war, at its very end.

Jews, men, women, children, were driven to the embankment, they were forced to take off their shoes, driven onto ferries and sent downstream. There they were driven into the water and shot. The torn bodies of the Danube water were carried away, saving the Nazis from having to bury the corpses.

Those shoes that remained on the shore, the Nazis sold at a fair price to everyone. And such were.

God, this is terrible. I still can't remember this place without shuddering. The shoes, of course, are not real, they are made of iron, but they completely copy the models of the 40s, some of them are worn out, others are in excellent condition, men's shoes, women's shoes and ankle boots, and, worst of all, children's shoes.

Seeing these shoes and knowing what awaited their owners after they took them off was almost unbearable for me, very hard and difficult. But I couldn't help but come here. For me, this is something very personal.

Each pair of shoes is someone's pain and a whole tragedy. These people, who left their shoes on the embankment, had no chance to survive, every shoe, every children's shoe is a reminder of the horrors of war, of the tragedy of an entire nation.

It’s impossible not to cry here, when I came to the memorial, there were a lot of people here, I don’t know, about it, or it’s always like this here. There were an incredible number of lit candles near the shoes, all the people brought flowers.

I sat near these shoes, I was choked with tears, I could hardly restrain my sobs. This place is a place of memory, human pain, tragedies of many lives. Those who created this memorial - they did a great job, these shoes are a reminder that it should never happen again, about the genocide of an entire nation.

In general, visiting this place is hard for everyone, I saw tears in the eyes of men, their hands and voices trembled, there were no indifferent faces here. This memorial cannot be called touching, it tears the soul apart and makes you suffer. For real. But this suffering, it seems to cleanse, allows everyone who came here, whose soul was filled with compassion and pain, to become better and purer. And most importantly, do not forget what happened in Budapest at the end of the Second World War, remember that an incredible number of civilians suffered, defenseless, unable to stand up for themselves and defend themselves, helpless.

If you are in Budapest, go to the "Shoes on the Danube Embankment" memorial. It will be difficult, but we all must honor the memory of those people who innocently suffered and died in that terrible war, especially children.

Walking along the ancient streets of Budapest, on almost every corner you can see interesting monuments or sculptures. Among them there are both modern creations and witnesses of ancient history. Any of them is somehow dear to the inhabitants of the capital. Some are reminiscent of great writers or musicians, others of statesmen of the country. There are simply original sculptures that delight the eye and soul. For example, a princess cast in bronze, who sat on the railing of the embankment, or a girl walking her dog near the fountain.

Shoes on the Danube.

But there is a monument in this city, at the sight of which tourists who came to Budapest for the first time are surprised. Not far from the house in which the Hungarian Parliament is located, on the embankment of the Danube River, there are ordinary, old shoes. It seems that adults and children simply decided to walk barefoot and give rest to tired legs. Looks like everyone is coming back...

Unfortunately this will never happen. Because it is a monument dedicated to the Jews of Hungary, who were shot here in the winter of 1944-1945. This memorial is called "Shoes on the Danube Embankment" and is one of the most poignant monuments of the history of the Second World War.

The idea of ​​creating this memorial came to the director Ken Togay, and brought it to life by the Hungarian sculptor Gyula Power. Its opening was carried out on April 16, 2005, on the eve of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of fascism, and is dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

Shoes on the banks of the Danube - description.

The "Shoes on the Danube" memorial in Budapest is a composition consisting of 60 pairs of cast-iron shoes, which are an exact copy of the models of the forties of the XX century. At the very edge of the water there are worn-out or completely new men's, women's, children's shoes and shoes. All shoes on the banks of the Danube in Budapest are attached to the embankment. Between the exposition and the embankment there is a stone bench, in which three metal plates are mounted. On them, in three languages ​​(Hebrew, Hungarian and English), a phrase is minted explaining to whom this memorial is dedicated and when it was erected. The height of the bench is seventy centimeters, and the length is forty meters, exactly as much as the space occupied by the displayed shoes on the banks of the Danube in Budapest.

The history of the memorial "Shoes on the Danube embankment"

From the very beginning of World War II, Hungary was on the side of the alliance of Italy, Germany and Japan. Already at the end of hostilities, realizing the inevitability of the collapse of Nazi Germany, the country's government withdrew from this coalition. For which he immediately paid the price: the country was occupied. By this time, there were a huge number of Jews in Hungary.

Having received power from the hands of the invaders, the National Socialist Arrow Cross Party began to conduct intensified anti-Semitic activities. Wanting to please their masters, they robbed and killed anyone who had Jewish blood flowing in their veins. The area where the synagogue stood was turned into a ghetto. Especially the Hungarian fascists committed atrocities in late 1944 and early 1945.

With undisguised cynicism, they set about liquidating the Jewish population. To save ammunition and not wanting to mess with the graves, the militants of the Arrow Crossed organization brought groups of 50-60 people to the Danube embankment. Having connected them with barbed wire, they killed one person, and he, falling into the water, pulled the rest behind him. The exact number of innocent victims is unknown. Before death, people were forced to take off their shoes, which were very much appreciated in wartime.

Why are shoes on the banks of the Danube?

It is no coincidence that the monument to shoes on the banks of the Danube includes 60 pairs, that is how many people were executed at one time. If one couple were dedicated to each shot, then there would simply not be enough space on the embankment. The place for the installation of the complex was chosen symbolically, since such executions were carried out along the entire bank of the Danube. Today there are 53 couples in the memorial. Where the rest of the shoes disappeared in 10 years is unknown. In spite of everything, funeral lamps are always lit at the monument, and fresh flowers lie. Visiting the “Shoes on the Danube Embankment” memorial in Budapest is unlimited, you can come around the clock without any entrance fee.

Updated 03/07/2019

The Holocaust Monument in Budapest is located about 300 meters from where it is located. There are 60 worn shoes on the Danube embankment. As if someone in a massive impulse decided to walk barefoot, throwing their boots and shoes in a chaotic manner. In fact, the shoes are made of iron. All together it is one of the saddest monuments in the whole world. It is dedicated to the Jews who were shot during the Second World War in Budapest.

The monument on the embankment appeared only 10 years ago, but in this relatively short period of time gained worldwide fame. Not a single rating of the saddest or most unusual monuments in the world is complete without iron shoes on the Danube embankment.

1. Worn brogues
2. Graceful shoes.
3. Children's shoes.

All these shoes are worthless and from afar look like real ones.


The fact that this is a monument is indicated by a metal plate embedded in concrete. Actually, there are even three of them. In English, Hungarian and Hebrew, one phrase is engraved on them: “In memory of the victims shot by the Arrow Cross militia in 1944-45. Established April 16, 2005".

About the persecution of Jews in Hungary

The Arrow Cross Party is a National Socialist party in Hungary that managed to briefly seize power in the country. In fact, its representatives were Hungarian fascists and supported Hitler in everything. In the fall of 1944, representatives of the party formed a pro-German government in Hungary, which lasted about six months. This short time was enough for the nationalists to cause a lot of pain especially the Jews.


Supporters of the Crossed Arrows pursued a virulent anti-Semitic policy, robbing and killing Jews throughout Budapest. The Jewish quarter of the city, in the center of which it is located, has turned into a real ghetto. People were shot right on the Danube embankment. Them placed at the very edge, shackling several dozen people with one chain.


One bullet was enough for the victim to fall into the water, dragging the rest of the unfortunate with it. So the Nazis saved on ammunition and did not bury the innocent victims of the regime. How many bodies were taken into their arms by the waters of the Danube has not yet been exactly established. If we talk about the Holocaust throughout Hungary, then in 1944-1945, according to various sources, from 500 to 600 thousand Jews were destroyed. Scary numbers...

The Nazis not only reveled in omnipotence, but also profited from their victims. They took away everything of value, not disdaining even shoes, which in wartime were a hot commodity. Jews were forced to take off their shoes before being executed. Shoes and boots - all that remained of the recently still breathing people after the execution. The Nazis either sold shoes or used them for their own needs.

The history of the creation of the monument

This sad fact became the main idea of ​​the monument dedicated to the exterminated Hungarian Jews. The memorial was opened April 16, 2005- on the day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, which the Jews themselves call Yom HaShoah. The documents of the Nuremberg trials say that the victims of the Holocaust were six million people.

As I said, the monument on the Danube embankment very quickly became a popular place for both locals and tourists. There are always fresh flowers and candles burning.


People come, take pictures or just stand by, thinking about something of their own. True, there are also those who, out of ignorance or lack of education, are trying to turn the memorial into a joke, placing their iron shoes next to them. But I saw this only once, and even then on the Internet, and not live.


The monument to the victims of the Holocaust in Budapest on the Danube embankment was somehow called one of the most powerful and poignant monuments in the world, and Geo magazine correspondent Anna Chaikovskaya admitted that she does not know a monument stronger and less pompous than this one. On this I completely agree with her. Therefore, if you go to Budapest, be sure to include it in your itinerary.

Useful information

Access to the monument is provided around the clock. There is no entry fee.

Address: Id. Antall Jozsef rkp., Budapest

How to get there:

• By tram - No. 2, stop Kossuth Lajos tér M;
• by metro - line M2, stop Kossuth Lajos tér.

The Holocaust Memorial in Budapest is the monument that impressed me the most. What monuments do you remember the most? Share your opinion in the comments.

Shoes on the Danube embankment on the map

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"Shoes on the Danube".

When you just approach this memorial in Budapest,

located along the river for 40 meters,

heart shrinks.

At first, from afar, it’s even hard to believe that these shoes are not real, they seem so real. But you come closer, remember the history of this monument dedicated to the Holocaust, and it becomes creepy! Only up close you realize that all this is made of metal. But that doesn't make it any easier.

The authors of this, as it is rightly called the most “poignant, touching” monument in the world “Shoes on the Danube embankment” (Hungarian Cipők a Duna-parton), located approximately in the middle between the Parliament building and the Chain Bridge, are film director Ken Togay (this is his idea) and sculptor Gyula Power. It is noteworthy that Ken Togay is half Russian, half English, and the sculptor Gyula Power is a Hungarian with Russian roots. The work of this talented duet is worthy of admiration and respect.

On modest tablets near the exposition on a stone bench in three languages ​​- in Hebrew, English and Hungarian inscriptions: "In memory of the victims shot on the Danube by the militants of the Crossed Arrows in 1944-1945. Established April 16, 2005."

There are only shoes on the embankment - and nothing else. It looks so natural that it seems to keep the warmth of the people who left it. As if someone took off these shoes, boots on the shore for a minute and now, is about to return. A terrible, piercing, surprisingly modest and inexpressibly touching monument. Still, in order for a normal person to “penetrate” through and through, no pomposity and obsessive moralizing are required. One moment, one look is enough to feel and freeze, horrified.

Whether it was so conceived or it happened by chance, but the monument is located just in such a place that many tourists suddenly “rest” against it, bypassing the building of the Hungarian Parliament on the right. Everything is simple: lawns with flowers, gray paving stones and gray concrete of the embankment. And suddenly before my eyes - a discordant row of shoes, boots, children's sandals. You can easily distinguish between shoes for boys and girls, men and women, old and new. There are no duplicate pairs. Everyone is different - just like the people who died in this place.

It was from the Jewish ghetto in Budapest, which “worked” for 50 days, that people were taken to the river bank, tied 60 people together, and to save bullets, they shot the first one, who, falling into the river, dragged the rest, still alive, into oblivion. According to unverified data, more than 10 thousand Jews found their death here. The cynicism with which these vile German and Hungarian non-human anti-Semites dealt with women, men, children is amazing. And why were the shoes of those killed on the shore left? Why did people go to their death without shoes? And again, the reason for this is German prudence: before committing a crime, they forced everyone, young and old, to take off their shoes, because at that time shoes and shoes were expensive. Then these shoes could be sold without problems on the black market, including the German population in Germany, or even used for their own needs. Thus, the crime was committed with profit. Thousands, tens of thousands of human bodies were carried away by the waters of the Danube. If one pair of shoes were dedicated to each shot, then there simply would not be enough space on the embankment.

Today there are 53 couples here, but in 2005 (when the memorial was opened on April 16 on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over fascism in World War II), there were 60. Several couples have disappeared somewhere during this time. In spite of everything, funeral lamps are always lit at the monument, and fresh flowers lie. Visiting the “Shoes on the Danube Embankment” memorial in Budapest is unlimited, you can come around the clock without any entrance fee.

The Hungarian capital has many ancient and modern sculptures. It is said that there are more than two hundred of them. Majestic kings and counts in bronze that has turned green with time, revolutionaries, famous composers, funny children, animals and birds in unusual poses. But only this one monument (a description of which you will not find in every local guidebook - to explain why, I think, is understandable) stands out from the general system, pierces like a sharp needle. Screaming about the horrors of fascism in a country that fought on the side of Nazi Germany - shoes on the Danube embankment.

In 2013, the Arguments and Facts newspaper (Russia) included the Budapest memorial among the 18 "Most poignant monuments in the world", giving it the first place in the list; also characterize it and other sources.

"This is one of the most powerful and poignant monuments of the world, which confirms that monumental art can be no less emotional than painting,"- writes the newspaper "Birobidzhaner Stern".

It is known that before the Second World War there were about 800 thousand Jews in Hungary, of which about 280 thousand lived in Budapest, which was sometimes called "judapest". The Jewish community in Hungary was the largest in Europe, so there were a lot of victims. The Hungarian synagogue is considered the second largest in the world (after New York). According to some reports, only a quarter of Hungarian Jews survived the Holocaust.

In October 1944, after the ruler of Hungary, Miklós Horthy, announced a truce with the USSR, a coup d'état supported by Nazi Germany took place in Budapest. Horthy's son was kidnapped by the SS and taken hostage. Under pressure from Hitler, a few days later, Miklos Horthy, who was still an opponent of the genocide of Jews and Gypsies, was forced to transfer power to the leader of the Hungarian Nazi pro-German Arrow Cross party, Ferenc Salashi, who, without delaying a day, organized mass actions to destroy hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews and Gypsies, as well as their deportation to concentration camps and to Germany.

The massacres in Hungary are considered one of the last and most sinister episodes of the Holocaust. In just three months preceding the capture of the city by Soviet troops, the Nazis and their Hungarian accomplices destroyed about 300 thousand Hungarian Jews.

Despite the fact that more than a dozen years have passed since the tragic events, lit candles still burn between metal boots and shoes, there are fresh flowers and stones that Jews bring from all over the world in memory of their dead compatriots. In one of the children's shoes, I saw sweets and small soft toys ...

Lump in throat...

One Holocaust survivor once said: “Too long we live - the survivors. Too many scoundrels and scoundrels on a universal scale, who imagined themselves to be the arbiters of destinies, left their mark on our long history. And it's just a matter of conscience, it turns out. While someone mourns and talks about terrible historical lessons, others stubbornly continue to reshape History according to their patterns.

On July 21, 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the “Shoes on the Danube Embankment” memorial complex in Budapest, dedicated to the memory of the Jews who died in the Holocaust, and laid a stone there from Mount Herzl, which he brought from Jerusalem. Knesset member Israel Eichler, who accompanied the Prime Minister, read one of King David's psalms ("Teilim").

The Prime Minister stressed: “This place very sharply and tragically expresses the changes in the fate of the Jewish people. Here, in this place, thousands of Jews, including children, were killed and thrown into the river. I brought here a stone from Mount Herzl in memory of the Jews killed here. It symbolizes the rebirth of Israel and that it is our duty to guarantee that this Holocaust will never happen to us again. This is the true, deepest meaning of the State of Israel. I am thrilled and proud to stand here and say all this with deep conviction, representing all of us, all of you, the citizens of Israel, the Jewish people.”

In 2015, the St. Petersburg (Russia) State Academic Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson staged the ballet "Stone Coast", the impetus for the creation of which was the impressions of the choreographer Vladimir Varnava from the Budapest monument. As conceived by the choreographer, the embankment acts in the performance "in the role of a mythological space that allows reconstructing on an emotional level events and images of people who have met with pain and loss". V. Barnabas said: "I don't know of a monument stronger or less pompous than this one."

And in the garden of the Budapest synagogue, which was located on the territory of the largest ghetto in Europe, a monument "Tree of Life" was erected. On each leaf is the name of the deceased Jew. This ghetto was liberated by the Red Army on January 18, 1945. By the way, a sign with gratitude to the soldiers who saved the survivors still hangs on the wall of the synagogue. Unfortunately, the synagogue, the tablet, and the monument are among the few that survived during the struggle of the Hungarian government with the so-called legacy of the communist past...

The theme of the Holocaust is consonant with the lines of poets of two different generations.

Hera Storm ( written in 2015):

On the shore, the Jews take off their shoes!

“It’s indecent to die shod?”

The child asked the mother, and that tear

Tried to wipe clean.

"Don't worry mom, I'm not hungry,

Yesterday I ate a piece of bread.

We'll freeze there, Mom, is the Danube cold?

I didn't learn how to swim...

Mom, you tell me, does it hurt to die?

Will I just fall and drown?

Or I'll die from a bullet and calmly

And then I will smoothly go to the bottom?

Take me by the hand, take me tight

So that we don't get lost underwater.

Together with you, it will be easier for us to be saved,

We will hide behind a strong wave.”

Take off your shoes on the banks of the Danube!

"Everyone says: 'The war is ending.'

Do you see, mother, a white dove in the sky?

Look, and there is our wave.

Sergei Mikhalkov ( written in 1944):

"Children's shoe" -

Listed in the graph

With purely German accuracy,

He was in the warehouse

Among shoes for adults and children.

His book number:

"Three thousand two hundred and nine."

"Children footwear. Worn.

Right shoe. With pay…”

Who did it? Where?

In Melitopol? In Krakow? In Vienna?

Who wore it? Vladek?

Or Russian girl Zhenya?

How did he get here, in this warehouse,

To this damned list,

Under serial number

"Three thousand two hundred and nine"?

Wasn't there another

In the whole world of roads,

Except for the one by which

Came those baby feet

To this terrible place

Where they hung, burned and tortured,

And then coolly

Did you count the clothes of the dead?

Here in all languages

They tried to pray for salvation:

Czechs, Greeks, Jews,

French, Austrians, Belgians.

Here the earth absorbed

The smell of decay and spilled blood

Hundreds of thousands of people

Different nations and different classes ...

Payback time has come!

Executioners and murderers - on your knees!

The judgment of the nations is coming

On the bloody trail of crimes.

Among the hundreds of clues -

This children's shoe has a patch.

Removed by Hitler from the victim

Three thousand two hundred and nine.

Lev Rudsky (WRN)