"Afflicted Ones Rising with the Son of Righteousness"
first POSTED ON MARCH 14, 2015 ON INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE: WWW.ARTWAY.EU

by Barbara Sartorius Bjelland
In all their affliction he was afflicted,
        and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
        he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 
Isaiah 63:9, RSV
This painting was inspired by a recent trip to Budapest. The two background buildings are the Hungarian Parliament and St. Matthias Church which actually face each other across the Danube River. One night I visited the Shoes on the Danube Bank, a small memorial next to the Hungarian Parliament building. Sixty pairs of bronze shoes tell the story of the 3,500 people, many of them Jews, who were killed at that spot by Nazi collaborators during WW II. The victims were lined up, ordered to remove their shoes, and then shot, their bodies falling into the river and turning it red with their blood. The image sticks in my mind—little children’s shoes, stylish women’s pumps with curved heels, men’s lace-up walking shoes, none of which could protect the people from the horror at the hands of their fellow human beings...

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