Pictured on the 'Pesti Alsó rakpart'. They're beautifully crafted and the detail is superb, right down to the stitching, eyelets, laces and grip on the soles. Styles vary: low heels, high heels, heavy boots, slip-ons, shoes with buckles, open toes, and a tiny pair of toddler’s boots. They’re not new shoes and the small patches of rust are reminiscent of scuffed leather.

Even-more discreet are three plaques, in Hebrew, Hungarian and English:

Unknowing tourists might be inclined to smile on seeing this unusual, idiosyncratic collection, and those that spot the plaque will no doubt feel a pang of guilt. Of course, they shouldn't, but such a reaction shows what a human memorial this is: something that connects you to humans who were treated as though they were not.

Tragically, the memorial is too modest for most. I sat by the river for half an hour and watched no fewer than three quarters of the visitors lightly kick the shoes, presumably to test their composition, before shrugging and moving on. (This might explain the absence of a few pieces.) I couldn't help but feel that this gave the memorial an even greater depth: the world remembers the holocaust and doesn't so much ignore it as not understand what it meant.

By Andy Sz. republished on XpatLoop.com with permission.

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