Budapest - Part 1 - Shoes on the Danube Bank

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, a country with a population of 9,7 million people, of which 1,7 million live in Budapest. This summer I had the pleasure to spend two days in Budapest. Two days is not enough to visit a city, let alone a capital with 1,7 million inhabitants but what can one do? If you have two days, you try to visit as many places as possible and see as much as possible.

The name of the city has a story to tell. Buda and Pest were two cities, divided by the Danube river.

In 1849 the Chain Bridge linking Buda with Pest was opened as the first permanent bridge across the Danube and in 1873 Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda (Old Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. source

On the Pest side of the Danube there's a monument called Cipők a Duna-parton which is called Shoes on the Danube Bank in English.

When you see those shoes, looking like some very poor people left them there, you don't really understand why are those shoes there.

The shoes are made of iron and are full of small stones.

You can see flowers left next to the shoes and occasionally the replica of the Israeli flag.

It's a place with a very sad history. When you see those tiny shoes that symbolically were of a small child, your eyes are filled with tears.

"The composition titled 'Shoes on the Danube Bank' gives remembrance to the 3,500 people, 800 of them Jews, who were shot into the Danube during the time of the Arrow Cross terror. The sculptor created sixty pairs of period-appropriate shoes out of iron. The shoes are attached to the stone embankment, and behind them lies a 40 meter long, 70 cm high stone bench. At three points are cast iron signs, with the following text in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew: "To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. Erected 16 April 2005." source

Leaving stones or pebbles on a grave is an ancient Jewish custom or tradition.

The Talmudsays that after a person dies, the soul continues to dwell in the grave. Jews believed that placing the stones on a grave would keep the soul down in this world or the stones will keep demons and golems from getting into the graves.

At the time of my visit, the place was full of tourists but I believe it is always full, regardless of the season. It was pretty difficult to take decent photos, had to delete quite a few as there was always a leg, an arm or a head on my photos that I didn't want.

The memorial monument was inaugurated on 16 April 2005 at 9.30am. This is the day to commemorate the Holocaust victims in Budapest.

In September 2014, several shoes were stolen from the Danube Holocaust memorial. According to Wikipedia, the police said they were not investigating the case because no crime has been reported. Looks like for some people nothing is sacred. What a shame!

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