Danube Cruise #12 :Shoes on the Danube, Escaping a Downpour!

Shoes on the Danube- sculpture

  In this 11th blog about our Viking Cruise on the Danube, you'll read about an emotional 
sculpture as a memoriam to a horrific incident from the Holocaust, and end the blog before a downpour! 

WHAT IS THE SHOES ON THE DANUBE? 
  From the ship, we noticed what looked like discarded shoes on the shore of the Danube River on the Pesht side of Budapest. 
  The sculpture Shoes on the Danube is located on the eastern
banks of the Danube, near the Parliament building. 

It is comprised of 60 pairs of shoes cast in iron and attached to the ground in various positions. 

Shoes on the Danube Sculpture

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  The sculpture gives remembrance to 3,500 people (800 of them Jews) who were shot into the Danube River by fascist Arrow-Cross militiamen during WWII. The victims were lined up on the banks and shot into the river so the current would carry their bodies away. They were told to remove their shoes first, because shoes had value (the implication being that their lives did not).

Plaque about the shoes

According to theculturetrip.com, At the same time, Arrow Cross militiamen ran loose in Budapest wreaking havoc and destruction. During the party’s five month rule, estimates suggest that 10,000 people were killed in the streets with a further 80,000 sent to concentration camps.


WHO CREATED THE SCULPTURE?- .  It was conceived by film director Can Togay, and created by sculptor Gyula Pauer in 2005. 

ESCAPE OF THE DOWNPOUR!!
On Monday, May 20, 2019 we just saw the sculpture of the "Shoes on the Danube"- a tribute to Holocaust victims. We were joined by our friends Mary Margaret and Don. Rob noticed and approaching thunderstorm and we ran for the ship. As soon as we got inside the ship and sat with a drink, the thunderstorm hit hard with a downpour. This is a video from that moment on the docked Viking Prestige ship.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/vsyBM1xus80