Shoes on the Danube Bank
Shoes on the Danube Bank features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Budapest. Give it roughly ~20 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type monument
- Suggested visit ~20 min
- Budapest Budapest guide
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About Shoes on the Danube Bank
Sixty pairs of iron shoes line the Danube embankment where Arrow Cross militiamen shot their victims into the river in 1944 and 1945, ordering them to remove their shoes first.
Shoes on the Danube Bank (Cipők a Duna-parton) is a Holocaust memorial on the Pest embankment of the Danube, roughly 300 metres south of the Hungarian Parliament Building. It was conceived by the film director Can Togay and created by the sculptor Gyula Pauer, and was unveiled on 16 April 2005. The memorial consists of sixty pairs of period-style shoes, men's, women's and children's, cast in iron and fixed to the stone at the water's edge, with a bench and cast-iron plaques set behind them. It commemorates people, many of them Jews, who were shot into the Danube by militiamen of the Arrow Cross in 1944 and 1945; victims were ordered to remove their shoes, which held value and were resold, before being killed at the riverbank so that their bodies fell into the water. The plaques carry an inscription in Hungarian, English and Hebrew.
How long is a visit to Shoes on the Danube Bank?
Set aside roughly ~20 min for Shoes on the Danube Bank. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Shoes on the Danube Bank worth your time?
Shoes on the Danube Bank is among the 31 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Budapest, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Budapest
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Shoes on the Danube Bank and read more:
Day 1 of the Budapest in 2 days itinerary →Day 1 of the Budapest in 3 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Shoes on the Danube Bank
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