Iron Shoes
During WWII, Jews in Budapest were brought to the edge of the Danube, ordered to remove their shoes, and shot, falling into the water below.
Sixty pairs of iron shoes now line the river’s bank, a ghostly memorial to the victims.
— Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them, And houses, and take them away They rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity From which you cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk haughtily.’
That’s from the Old Testament prophet Micah, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.
Pop Quiz with serious implications: What are you and I doing today and the rest of this week to either encourage such actions or discourage them?
[Sculpture: ‘Shoes on the Danube Promenade’ by Can Togay and Gyula Pauer]
