The 228 Memorial Foundation yesterday said that it would issue the latest version of its investigative report on the 228 Incident in July.
It would be the third iteration of the report, following previous versions published in 1992 and 2006, foundation chairman Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said.
Hsueh declined to disclose details of the report, as it is still being compiled, but said that it would feature the latest findings based on recently obtained historical documents on the massacre.
Photo: CNA
It would focus on transitional justice and on who should take responsibility for the Incident, especially high-ranking police, military and intelligence officials at the time, Hsueh said.
The foundation in its 2006 report identified Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) as the person primarily responsible for the massacre, with then-chief of Taiwan Province Chen Yi (陳儀) and Peng Meng-chi (彭孟緝), a major-general at the Kaohsiung garrison, directly responsible for the behavior of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops.
This year’s report would be translated into English and other foreign languages so that the world can better understand the history of Taiwan, Hsueh said.
The 228 Incident was triggered by a clash between government officials and an illegal cigarette vendor in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947. The event quickly turned into an anti-government uprising and was put down by the then-Nanjing-based KMT government in China.
An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people were killed during the initial crackdown, which lasted into early May, according to an investigation commissioned by the Cabinet in 1992.
The foundation is also compiling a list of about 2,000 potential victims who were previously unknown, Hsueh said.
A list of 447 of newly discovered potential victims was posted on the foundation’s Web site in December last year.
The full list of 2,000 victims would be made public before the end of this year, he said.
The foundation is calling them potential victims because researchers found new evidence in recently unveiled historical documents indicating that, unknown to their families, they might have been killed or injured during the crackdown, Hsueh said.
Once the list is made public online, the potential victims or their descendants can apply for government compensation before the application deadline on Jan. 18, 2022, he said.
The government-funded foundation has provided NT$7.2 billion (US$233.6 million at the current exchange rate) to the families of 10,103 victims of the massacre, it said.
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