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Shoes on the Danube Bank

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial created in 2005 on the eastern bank of the Danube in Budapest, Hungary. Conceived by filmmaker Can Togay and made with sculptor Gyula Pauer, it commemorates Jews murdered there by Hungarian fascist militiamen from the Arrow Cross Party in late 1944 and early 1945, shortly before Soviet forces liberated Budapest. Victims were ordered to remove their shoes before being shot at the water’s edge so their bodies would fall into the river and be carried away. The monument depicts the abandoned shoes left behind on the riverbank.

Metal shoes from the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial on a concrete riverbank with calm water behind them.
Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial shoes along the riverbank in Budapest.
May 2012 © · CC BY-SA 2.0
Shoes on the Danube Bank sculpture with two dark metal shoes on a concrete riverbank, one holding a yellow flower.
Shoes on the Danube Bank with a yellow flower placed inside one of the metal shoes.
November 2012 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial along a riverside embankment, with a city skyline and riverboat in the background.
Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial on the riverfront, with the Danube and Budapest skyline beyond.
March 2024 © · CC0
People gathered beside the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial along a riverbank lined with shoe sculptures.
Visitors stand beside the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial on a sunny day.
July 2025 © · CC BY-SA 4.0
Yad Vashem Certificate of Honour recognizing Szabó Károly, with English and Hebrew text and a gold seal.
Yad Vashem Certificate of Honour for Szabó Károly, shown with bilingual text, official seals, and signatures.
December 2013 © Tamas Szabo · Public domain

Identification

TitleShoes on the Danube Bank
TypeHolocaust memorial sculpture
Original titleCipők a Duna-parton

Historical context

Scale of killingsThousands were shot; exact figures are unknown, with estimates ranging from about 2,600 to 3,600 victims
Perpetrators referencedMembers of the Arrow Cross Party and its Hungarian police militia ('Nyilas')
Historical period commemoratedAutumn and winter of 1944, especially December 1944 to January 1945
Historical backgroundVictims were forced to remove their shoes, then shot at the Danube bank and their bodies were carried away by the river
Victims commemoratedJewish victims of the Holocaust in Hungary, including victims from the Budapest ghetto
Inauguration occasionHungarian Day of Remembrance for the 60th anniversary of the Shoah
Commemorated eventThe mass shootings of Jews in Budapest by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–1945
Date erected16 April 2005

Creator

SculptorGyula Pauer
Designed byGyula Pauer and Can Togay
Concept byCan Togay

Location and ownership

SiteEastern bank of the Danube River, near Kossuth Square
InscriptionsThree cast-iron plaques in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew reading: 'In memory of the victims shot into the Danube by armed Arrow Cross Party members in 1944/45. Erected 16 April 2005.'
LocationPest side of the Danube Promenade, Budapest, Hungary

Physical characteristics

Associated bench40-metre-long stone bench, 70 cm high
ArrangementA row of shoes placed as if left behind on the riverbank
Attachment to siteThe shoes are fixed to the stone embankment
Number of shoessixty pairs
Length40 metres

Materials

Main materialiron

Iconography and meaning

SymbolismThe shoes represent the footwear ordered off victims before they were shot into the Danube
Depicted subjectAbandoned shoes left on the riverbank

History and restoration

DesecrationOn 15 June 2009 unknown perpetrators stuffed pig feet into the shoes; the perpetrators were not caught