The student assembly at Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High School on Tuesday held a commemoration before a building with bullet holes from the 228 Incident on the school grounds, which student leader Tu Chun-ching (涂俊清) said he hoped would allow reflection of the future by understanding the past.
The event commemorated a group of students, the “Self-Protection Force of Kaohsiung Senior High School (雄中自衛隊),” who volunteered during the 228 Incident to help protect their school, their families and Mainlanders in the vicinity, Tu said.
The formation of the group was allegedly the reason Kaohsiung Senior High School was the only school in Taiwan to be attacked by the army during the oppression after the 228 Incident, Tu said.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian regime and the resulting brutal crackdown that left tens of thousands dead and led to nearly four decades of martial law.
The event was hosted by the school’s student assembly and attended by principal Hsien Wen-pin (謝文斌), Kaohsiung City Councilor Hsiao Yung-ta (蕭永達) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑).
Hsieh said the event was a self-motivated effort by the student assembly and showed that the school’s students are capable of independent thinking, adding that it was evident that the spirit of the “Self-Protection Force” had been passed down, despite the fear of speaking about the issue during the Martial Law era.
Hsieh said he originally thought the self-protection force was an anti-government group, and it was only through research that he discovered that the students had been motivated by wanting to protect their homes and their school.
Hsieh said the students also harbored the wish to see further integration of locals and Mainlanders.
Hsieh pointed to the first and second buildings of the school dormitories, as well as the eastern wall, and said these bore the marks of history and should be better protected.
Hsu praised the members of the self-protection group for their willingness to help Mainlanders.
Hsiao said the school’s history differed from a lot of the research written by Academia Sinica, as while others recorded a clash of ethnicities, the school’s history was one of mutual aid and peace.
The story of the school’s self-protection group is the best example of peace and justice that can offer closure for the victims of the 228 Incident, Hsiao said.
The commemorative exhibition on the school’s self-protection group runs until March 11, the school said, adding that there will be a talk given by National Chengchi University Taiwanese literature professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) on the 228 Incident, its impact on the young people of Kaohsiung and the stirring of civic consciousness.
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