Barbarians Hit Budapest Holocaust Memorial

The inventive Holocaust memorial called "Shoes on the Danube Bank" has been defaced, according to a report on hvg.hu. The sculpture, which consists of a line of empty iron shoes, recalls the barbaric Fascist habit of taking Jews and other undesirables down to the Duna and shooting them into the river. And now some other barbarian has stolen three of them, and damaged a fourth.

Kossuth Award winning-sculptor Gyula Pauler said he will make new shoes to replace the pieces stolen, which were apparently taken on July 15, the day a major retrospective of his works opened. He is paying for the replacements, and sent a letter to the Budapest Government asking for the statue to be put under the care of the Budapest Gallery (Budapest Galéria) in the future. The District V Police are looking for the perpetrators.