Memory, partial truth and reconciliation without justice: the white terror Luku incident in Taiwan

During 1952-1953 the village of Luku in Taiwan became the focus of a military campaign to uncover and arrest alleged ‘communists’, with the result that nearly all the adult male population were either executed or given long prison sentences. This paper considers how this ‘Luku Incident’ has been remembered, using the theoretical perspective of social memory. The paper provides an overview to what happened, and then examines how the incident was forgotten during the martial law period, which lasted until 1987. It then elaborates how the remembering of Luku has been created since then, and how the incident has been remembered in certain ways for specific purposes by different social groups representing different political interests. It is shown that the way the incident has been remembered has been directed more by short-term political calculation than by a regard for truth, justice or reconciliation.