There is a memorial on the Pest shores of the Danube in Budapest that in its simplicity and elegance, says more, perhaps, than all the strum und drang of Dachau. During 1944 and 1945, the Nazis-sympathizing Arrow Cross Militia gathered Jews, lined them up on the shoreline above the river, told them to remove their shoes and shot them. Their bodies fell into the Danube and were carried away.
The memorial to the victims is a row of bronze shoes facing the river. Most visitors come by to look; some place flowers or charms in rememberence of lost friends and relatives.
There is just one small plaque, no push-button blab box, no brochures, and no posters. Sometimes shame and horror are best expressed in silence.
Did you notice that “the victims” are not identified as Jews?!? Also, there’s no easy access to the memorial without dodging traffic.That says something about the society which maintains this memorial.
Everything you say is factual. The question is in the interpretation. There are many monuments surrounded by inhibiting traffic. And, the fact that the “victims” we’re not identified as Jews is somewhat counterbalanced by the fact that the monument was erected in the first place. There was a crowd of people around it during sub-zero weather, so it does seem that the message is being delivered. The city’s Jewish Synagogue also was mobbed with visitors. How the Hungarian society feels about their Jewish minority as opposed to Muslim and other minorities is a question I can’t answer.