Memorials in Taiwan

The military court of the Republic of China used to convene in the Jing-Mei district of the Taiwanese capital Taipei. The court played a key role in prosecuting opposition members in the 1970s and 1980s. During martial law, more than 16,000 people were tried for sedition or espionage. The courtroom and the adjacent prison (photo) are now a memorial.

The trial of what is known as the Formosa Incident was held at the military court. Civil rights activists associated with Formosa Magazine had called on people to attend a rally on Human Rights Day in December 1979. Police officers disguised as civilians began attacking the approaching military police. The government used this as an excuse to arrest all known members of the opposition. In 1980, the eight main defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from twelve years to life.

When martial law was lifted in 1987, the convicted prisoners were released. The military prison was closed four years later. At the suggestion of Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien Lu, who had been one of the defendants herself, a memorial was erected on the grounds in 2007. It has been expanded in recent years and is now part of the National Human Rights Museum, which was founded in 2011.

Visitors can visit the courtroom and the prison, both of which remain largely unchanged. In one room you can see the old tape recorders that were used by the Taiwanese State Security Service. In another room, replicas of bowls of food are displayed on a dozen tables where the prisoners took their meals. You can also visit a former laundry where prisoners had to work and the former prison yard. The expansive grounds, originally built as a military academy, are now a memorial park for the victims of the White Terror.

Reconstructed camp barracks with prisoners

The prisoners lie or sit closely packed in barracks of the “New Life” Correctional Center. Its aim was to transform the prisoners into new people through hard labor and mental re-education. Today the camp is a museum, which even includes replicas of the prisoners.

The memorial is located on “Green Island,” a small island about 30 kilometers off the east coast of Taiwan. The rocky island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean had previously served as a penal colony for the Japanese. The Kuomintang government incarcerated its political prisoners here for decades.

The camp was located in a bay closed off by cliffs. The natural conditions alone made it nearly impossible to escape. Thousands of people were imprisoned here from 1951 to 1965. Up to 2,000 prisoners, divided into 12 units, had to perform forced labor in the camp. Some worked as lumberjacks, others had to break rocks in the surf to build pigsties, grain stores and tool sheds. Others were engaged in growing vegetables or raising pigs.

The harsh everyday conditions in the camp were accompanied by systematic political indoctrination. Words such as “decency,” “justice,” “righteousness” and “honor” were written in huge letters on the mountain slopes. During regular mandatory “lessons,” prisoners were subjected to outright brainwashing, a method that continues to be used in China today. If a prisoner refused to be reconditioned, he was sent to another island or, like 14 prisoners in 1953, was executed.

With the exception of a weathered watchtower, an old prison building and the remains of the prison kitchen, little remains of the original buildings. The entrance gate through which the prisoners entered the camp was rebuilt, as were the accommodations and the exit gate through which they were released after being declared purified.

An elaborate exhibition in the reconstructed barracks tells the history of the camp. Dioramas and life-size replicas show how prisoners broke the rocks, marched in rows of two and were subjected to re-education on small wooden benches. A barrack with two-story bunks and figures of prisoners was also completely rebuilt.