Shoes On Danube

The Shoes on the Danube Bank

The Shoes on the Danube Bank (Hungarian: Cipők a Duna-parton) is a Memorial to the Jews murdered in Budapest, Hungary during World War 2.

It was erected in 2005.

From December 1944 until January 1945 the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party (Hungarian: Nyilaskeresztes Párt) a Fascist Party that Collaborated with Nazi Germany took Jewish Men, Women and Children from the Budapest Ghetto (Hungarian: Budapesti gettó) and marched them down to the Danube River,

The Arrow Cross would have the People remove their shoes when they reached the River so that they could be sold or traded afterwards.

Then the Arrow Cross would tie the hands of Groups of 4 People together and shoot the Person closest to the River so that all 4 People would fall into the Danube and die (the Arrow Cross saved bullets and money this way.)

23,500 Men, Women and Children were murdered in this way.

This was not the only way the Germans or the Arrow Cross murdered Jews during the War.

From April 1944 until February 1945 564,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children from Hungary were murdered (out of a Jewish Population of 825,000.)

From May 15-July 9,1944 434,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children were deported from Hungary to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland where 80% of them were gassed to death within an hour of arriving.

144,000 Hungarian Jews survived the Holocaust.

That includes: 119,000 Jews from Budapest (69,000 from the Budapest Ghetto; 25,000 that were in Hiding and 25,000 who were being protected by the Swedish, Swiss, Spanish, etc. Governments); 20,000 Jews liberated from the German Concentration and Death Camps and 5,000 used for Forced Labor by the Arrow Cross and the Germans.

After the War, the Arrow Cross Leaders were tried and found guilty as War Criminals by Hungarian Courts.

In March 1946, Ferenc Szálasi (Founder of the Arrow Cross) and 3 of his key Henchmen were hanged.