At the edge of the Pest embankment in Budapest, next to the parliamentary residence, thousands of victims of the Holocaust in Hungary are immortalized in a poignant sculptural composition.
Six dozen pairs of shoes, boots, children’s sandals and shoes, made of metal and stone, installed on April 16, 2005.
They are made so skillfully that only upon closer inspection it is clear that this is an art installation.
The idea of director Janos Jan Togay was realized by his friend, sculptor Gyula Power.
It is not surprising that the memorial is so striking at first sight, the artist used models from the 40s for work.
It is not difficult to imagine people who could leave their shoes on the shore.
Within a few months of 1944-1945, thousands of Jews were executed in the Hungarian capital.
Reliable information about the number of dead is no longer known, they were taken to the place of execution by army vehicles, demanded to take off their shoes and tied by hand in a chain.
Household Nazis, after, used the shoes of their victims for their own needs and for sale.
They also did not waste bullets, shot at one, and the rest of the people associated with him fell into the icy water and soon drowned.
It looks especially cynical that sometimes, instead of ropes, the hands of the condemned were tied with their own shoelaces.
Massive repressions were carried out by local militias of the radical Arrow Cross organization.
Local policemen began to act outrageously after the change of power to the pro-fascist, puppet government of Ferenc Salashi, he stood at the origins of the fascist arrow-crossed party.
