Photograph
Object numberM2012/002:005
TitlePhotograph
Creator Eric Wegman
DescriptionPhotograph of cast iron shoes at the "Shoes on the Danube Promenade" in Budapest.
Shoes on the Danube Promenade' is a memorial in Budapest consisting of 60 pairs of cast iron shoes, created by sculptor Gyula Pauer and film director Can Togay. The memorial, erected in April 2005, recalls the Jews murdered by the Arrow Cross, an antisemitic Hungarian Fascist movement and, from October 1944 onwards, a terrorist regime that continued the program of the 'Final Solution' in Hungary. Each shoe in the installation is modelled after a shoe of the 1940s. The style of footwear – a man's work boot, a business man's loafer, a woman's pair of heels and the shoes of a child – were chosen to illustrate how no one, regardless of age, gender or occupation, was spared. The shoes are placed casually on the bank of the river as if the people just stepped out of them.
Plaques in Hungarian, English and Hebrew state: 'To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45. Erected 16th April, 2005.' The word Jew does not appear on the signs despite the fact that the victims were all Jews.
The photographs were taken by Dr Eric Wegman in July 2009, during a visit to Budapest, as a tribute to the resilience of his father-in-law, George Hamori, who survived the slaughter on the banks of the Danube River. Two generations of Holocaust descendants, George's daughter, Dr Annette Wegman, and granddaughter Jordana, are included in some of the images. After the war, George migrated to Israel and became a well-known graphic designer, designing stamps for the United Nations, Australia, Israel and the Vatican. He was also on the design committee for the Australian $10 note.
After a long policy of collaboration with Admiral Horthy's regime, the Germans invaded Hungary in March 1944. In an accelerated process of extermination, the last intact Jewish community in occupied Europe suffered in four months what Polish Jewry had endured over three years. Between 15 May and 8 July some 440,000 Hungarian Jews, mainly from the countryside, were deported to Auschwitz, making the countryside 'free of Jews'. Around 80 per cent were murdered upon arrival. Nearly 200,000 remained in Budapest incarcerated in a ghetto and in 'Jew-Houses'. Between December 1944 and the end of January 1945, the Arrow Cross took as many as 20,000 Jewish men, women and children from the ghetto, shot them along the banks of the Danube, and threw their bodies into the river, sparing themselves the hard work of burial. The victims had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable items at the time.
Shoes on the Danube Promenade' is a memorial in Budapest consisting of 60 pairs of cast iron shoes, created by sculptor Gyula Pauer and film director Can Togay. The memorial, erected in April 2005, recalls the Jews murdered by the Arrow Cross, an antisemitic Hungarian Fascist movement and, from October 1944 onwards, a terrorist regime that continued the program of the 'Final Solution' in Hungary. Each shoe in the installation is modelled after a shoe of the 1940s. The style of footwear – a man's work boot, a business man's loafer, a woman's pair of heels and the shoes of a child – were chosen to illustrate how no one, regardless of age, gender or occupation, was spared. The shoes are placed casually on the bank of the river as if the people just stepped out of them.
Plaques in Hungarian, English and Hebrew state: 'To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45. Erected 16th April, 2005.' The word Jew does not appear on the signs despite the fact that the victims were all Jews.
The photographs were taken by Dr Eric Wegman in July 2009, during a visit to Budapest, as a tribute to the resilience of his father-in-law, George Hamori, who survived the slaughter on the banks of the Danube River. Two generations of Holocaust descendants, George's daughter, Dr Annette Wegman, and granddaughter Jordana, are included in some of the images. After the war, George migrated to Israel and became a well-known graphic designer, designing stamps for the United Nations, Australia, Israel and the Vatican. He was also on the design committee for the Australian $10 note.
After a long policy of collaboration with Admiral Horthy's regime, the Germans invaded Hungary in March 1944. In an accelerated process of extermination, the last intact Jewish community in occupied Europe suffered in four months what Polish Jewry had endured over three years. Between 15 May and 8 July some 440,000 Hungarian Jews, mainly from the countryside, were deported to Auschwitz, making the countryside 'free of Jews'. Around 80 per cent were murdered upon arrival. Nearly 200,000 remained in Budapest incarcerated in a ghetto and in 'Jew-Houses'. Between December 1944 and the end of January 1945, the Arrow Cross took as many as 20,000 Jewish men, women and children from the ghetto, shot them along the banks of the Danube, and threw their bodies into the river, sparing themselves the hard work of burial. The victims had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable items at the time.
Production placeBudapest, Hungary
Production date 2009-07
Object namephotographs
Dimensions
- length: 280.00 mm
width: 360.00 mm
depth: 1.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Eric Wegman