The 60 pairs of rusty iron shoes, spread almost invisibly across a small section of the Danube bank, in the shadow of the magnificent Parliament building, is probably the most humble, yet the most moving memorial of Budapest. It commemorates the thousands of Jews, shot into the Danube by the Arrow Cross party military-men in 1944-45. Hungary was aligned with the Nazi Germany during the second world War. Although since the beginning of the war, the rights of the Hungarian Jews were restricted in many ways, they were initially safe in Hungary. It had been all changed by 19 March 1944. Sensing that Hungary was considering leaving the Axis, the Nazi German troops occupied Hungary. Led by Adolf Eichmann, the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators began rounding up the Jews. In a few months almost half a million Jews were deported into the death camps of Aushwitz and Birkenau. Following an unsuccessful attempt of Governor Miklos Horthy to withdraw Hungary from the war, in October 1944 he was removed by a coup, organised by the Germans, and the Nazi Hungarian Arrow Cross party, led by Ferenc Szalasi, took control over Hungary. During the party's 5 month rule more than 70000 Jews were deported into various concentration camps, and the remaining 70000 were relocated into a closed ghetto near the Great Synagogue. Thousands of Jews were taken from this ghetto to the Danube riverbank and subsequently murdered by the Arrow Cross party military-men. Before they had been shot into the river , they were forced to remove their shoes, as it was a valuable commodity during the war, what their murderers would than sell, or use themselves. Shoes on the Danube memorial, created by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Paurer, was erected in April 2005 in memory of the thousands of victims, killed here in 1944–45. The memorial features 60 pairs of period-appropriate shoes cast in iron, anchored to the stone embankment pointed towards the river. The different sizes and styles show that no one was safe, not men, women or children. People come to light candles and lay flowers alongside them every day, showing its real meaning; remembrance.

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