Where are all the bodies buried? I was comparing the number of disappearances with the number of remains located and there seems to be a huge discrepancy.
From 1949
I’m sure more than a few ended up on the bottom of the sea.
[quote]Try the bottom of the ocean.
[/quote]
If that were so there would have been thousands of corpses washing up on beaches all over the Pacific rim.
I’ve seen numerous references of people being shot and the bodies dumped into the Keelung or Damshui rivers. I always assumes that those bodies ended up floating out to sea…
From Formosa Betrayed":
“For days the dead continued to be washed up in Keelung Harbor. The wharves and narrow beaches were a favored execution ground. Ignorant Nationalist soldiery apparently expected the tides to remove the bodies, but they merely floated about in the tidal currents within an enclosed port area. Foreigners observed small boats searching the harbor, towing bodies in where grief-stricken families waited to search for missing sons and brothers. Estimates varied of the number killed at Keelung alone in these few days, but the lowest figure placed the total about 300, and there is no reason to doubt this as a minimum figure.”
An elderly Taiwanese man in my neighborhood once told me that a lot of people had been executed and buried in a mass grave nearby our local park. Perhaps there are graves like this all over the island?
One book I read some time ago suggested that the bodies were buried at the execution grounds. The book was in Chinese, ‘Cases from the white terror’ (?). I remember something about a horse racing track near Hsin Dian where a lot of people were executed. Actually I imagine its near the par 3 pitch and putt I occasionally go wandering around. After a heavy rain I can’t help but keep an extra watchful eye out.
HG
That is assuming a level of competence that never has and never will exist in the slave army of the R.O.C.
Applying a bit of logic to the question may help. In the past the soon to be executed would be transported alive to a remote location where they would be shot and buried or burned.
Each city, town or village would be unique. In the SS corps of the Nazi army, different approaches were used. There is a huge logistics problem to be solved and there is also the need to avoid a riot by the soon to be executed. If the officers involved had even the slightest bit of intelligence, secrecy would be a priority as well.
That is assuming a level of competence that never has and never will exist in the slave army of the R.O.C.[/quote]
Plus, any army that’s willing to undertake mass executions and create a reign of terror is not likely to care about bodies washing up on the shore.
Maybe the staff at the 2-28 Museum – which is quite a good museum --could help you out.
[quote=“Boomer”]Didn
There was an execution ground at a place in Taibei called Machangding (
Okay, here is another “elderly man in my neighborhood” story (I seem to attract them). Anyway, this one came to Taiwan from China in 1949, and when I asked him about 2-28, he said that it was a tragedy, but that people forget that many people newly arrived from the mainland were also killed, at the hands of the Taiwanese who lived under the Japanese occupation. No doubt, some were killed, but were the majority killed as reprisals or because the Taiwanese were defending themselves? Again, as with the 2-28 figures, I’m sure the claims vary greatly, although they are certainly far lower than for 2-28 / the White Terror.
In most places where these types of massacres have taken place there is a hurried rush to clean up the mess towards the conclusion of the incident. In Germany and it
Where are the bodies buried? I bet Jimmy “White Terror” Soong knows.
There must be a lot of people who know the answer. The problem is holding those responsible, accountable. The last hopes of that probably died already.
I was considering going to old age homes with a tape recorder and talking to old soldiers. They must have a lot of things to say.
[quote]There was an execution ground at a place in Taibei called Machangding (
While this is possible, it seems to be quite unlikely. Keep in mind that back then, Taiwan was barely motorized. Trying to get a bunch of people (dead or alive) into any type of remote location would have been quite a feat. The ocean scenario seems to be much more likely.
Photographs of firing squad victims on display at the Machangding memorial
Some of the people executed during the White Terror on Taiwan
Wreaths at the Machangding execution ground memorial
(Click here or on any of the pictures above to read a detailed report in Chinese.)
This is what I have come up with for Taipei, please keep in mind a lot of this is based on educted guesses.
The Tan Sui river basin north side as there were no real bridges and transporting the victims across the river would have been problematic and required a level of coordination and competence not present in the ROC army. The ocean scenario has a lot of merit but again the victims would have to have been transported by truck to the sea, that is not likely as the fuel expenditures alone would have been cost prohibitive.
My best guess is the Kuan Du area. Most likely locations would be the
Could someone please regale us with information of James Soong, the man on the KMT’s presidential slate as VP, and his activities in the White Terror? I have heard only snippets of his atrocities but am amazed that he has the gall to remain in the public eye, much less run for the leadership of democratic Taiwan.