Shoes on the Danube
On the Pest bank of the Danube River in Budapest, about 300 m from the Parliament Parliament, you will see 60 pairs of shoes – the type worn by people in the 1940s. There are men’s shoes, women’s shoes, and children’s shoes in different sizes. They line the water’s edge, looking forlorn and abandoned. They are carved from metal and set on the concrete pavement of the embarkment.
Some have candles and flowers placed inside. Suddenly the mood becomes sombre as I gaze at them, almost as if I am intruding into the scene that befell those who wore these shoes some 70 years before.
I am looking at the “Shoes of the Danube memorial and monument to the Hungarian Jews who, in the winter of 1944-1945, were shot on the banks of the Danube River by the members of the Arrow Cross Party.
( Here is an excerpt from http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/31/shoes.asp by Sheryl Ochayon )
“During that winter, after the Germans had toppled the local government , the antisemitic Arrow Cross Party came to power. The Arrow Cross introduced a reign of terror in Budapest. Their militiamen ran amok in the streets of Budapest, beating, plundering, and killing Jews publicly. Thousands of Jews were murdered all over the city. Shooting the Jews into the Danube was convenient because the river carried the bodies away. Often, the Arrow Cross murderers would force their terrified Jewish victims to remove their shoes before shooting them into the Danube. Shoes, after all, were a valuable commodity during World War II. The killers could use them, or trade them on the black market. This, then, is the historical reality behind the monument. Sometimes, though, the victims’ shoes were so worn-out and useless, that the militiamen killed the Jews with their shoes still on. And sometimes, the Arrow Cross pulled the shoestrings out of children’s shoes, and used them to tie the helpless Jewish victims’ hands together before they were shot. Sometimes they used rope instead. The killers faced their victims without mercy; the victims faced the killers without blindfolds. In some cases the Arrow Cross men tied together the hands of two or three Jews – adults or children. Then they would shoot only one of the people who were tied together. When they did their work properly and positioned their victims at the edge of the water, all three would fall into the Danube, the dead body pulling the still-living victims with it.All the bodies, tied together by shoelaces or rope or fate, would either sink or float away down the river. If the militiamen noticed that Jews were still alive, they used them for target practice. However, most of the Jews – especially the children – died immediately because the water was freezing cold. During the days of horror in the winter of 1944-1945, the Danube was known as “the Jewish Cemetery.”
( Here is another excerpt from http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/one-of-budapests-most-moving-memorials-shoes-on-the-danube/ )
“Miklós Voglhut will not be a name synonymous with the majority of people but his story is just one of many linked to the Shoes on the Danube. Born in 1898 to an artistic Jewish family he decided from an early age that a career in music and theatre was what he wanted to pursue; his brother was a clarinet and saxophonist whilst his nephew was a well renowned jazz musician. His individual career gathered pace, but by 1924 there was large scale anti-semitism sweeping across Hungary and Europe, this led Miklós to change his name to a more Hungarian sounding stage name… and so Miklós Vig came into being (Vig in Hungarian means cheerful or merry).
He was a student of Géza Boross and his talent was discovered by Dezső Gyárfás and Antal Nyáray. He had his first major successes at the Intim Kabaré as a soloist, and later performed frequently in other cabarets including the Budapest Operetta Theatre and Budapest Orfeum. Although he made many recordings, he became most famous as a singer of popular music on the radio. A 1935 article in Színházi Élet describes Miklós as a singer of popular sentimental songs.
According to Gramofon (the Hungarian Jazz and Classical music magazine) Miklós was considered part of the first generation of recorded Hungarian musicians. When Deutsche Gramophone found themselves falling behind the competition, they signed Miklós who ultimately became their first dance-music star “beloved all around the country.” As a comedian, he performed in the early 1920s at various cabarets including the Rakéta Kabaré – occasionally with female partner Annus Nagy.
In the harsh winter of 1944 despite the fact he did not have a Jewish name and had married into a catholic family Miklós was rounded up along with others from the ghetto by the ruling Arrow Cross Party for Jewish activities. Like many before him and many more after him he was forced to strip naked on the banks of the Danube and face the river; a firing squad then shot the prisoners at close range in the back so that they fell into the river to be washed away.”
I say a prayer and walked slowly back along the bank towards the main road with a heavy heart.
( Budapest, 2013 )
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