National Human Rights Museum - Green Island Memorial Park of the White Terror Introduction
The "White Terror Memorial Park in Green Island" was formerly known as the "Green Island Human Rights Cultural Park." It is located at No. 20, Jiangjun Rock, Gongguan Village, Green Island Township, Taitung County, covering an area of approximately 32 hectares at the northeastern tip of Green Island. The park has witnessed various aspects of prison culture, including the Fire Island Floating Shelter, the New Life Guidance Institute, and the Oasis Villa, marking it as a site of significant human rights violations by an authoritarian government. The architecture, natural, and ecological landscapes of the entire park illustrate the long-term interaction between humans and nature, integrating various forms of cultural assets and landscapes into a cohesive cultural landscape. During the martial law period, the "White Terror Memorial Park in Green Island" served as a place of detention for military, political, and public security cases; from 1951 to 1970, it was the New Life Guidance Institute, and from 1972 to 1987, the Oasis Villa (known as the Ministry of National Defense Correction Prison), with the latter being a high-walled prison built in response to the 1970 Taiyuan Incident, differing significantly in spatial configuration from that of the New Life Guidance Institute. The "White Terror Memorial Park in Green Island" holds special significance in the history of the Taiwanese people's struggle for human rights. Each era carries its own sense of helplessness and lament; the memorial park was born in a politically sensitive time, originally used exclusively to imprison political and ideological prisoners. Located at the front of Jiangjun Rock in Gongguan Village, Green Island, it encompasses Jiangjun Rock, the Human Rights Memorial Park, the Oasis Villa, and the Zhuangjing Camp, with the Oasis Villa and New Life Guidance Institute serving as facilities for rehabilitative education and ideological transformation. Upon entering the park, one can sense the heavy and oppressive atmosphere, making it a great place to understand Taiwan's past experiences with the White Terror and the history of human rights development. The Oasis Villa, previously the National Defense Ministry's Green Island Correction Prison, was completed in 1972 and subsequently housed ideological prisoners transferred from the Taiyuan Prison and various military prisons while fully preserving the high surrounding walls, barbed wire, parade grounds, auditorium, octagonal building, solitary confinement cells, and 52 various-sized cells. To the right of the entrance at the Oasis Villa is a tunnel known as "The Gate of Ghosts," once a mandatory passage for entering the Oasis Villa, symbolizing a slim chance of survival. Inside the Oasis Villa, numerous historical materials related to the White Terror period are displayed, with narrow prison cells and a dark, heavy atmosphere that lingers even today. The New Life Guidance Institute, established in the early 39th year of the Republic of China (1950), became the largest labor reform concentration camp as political prisoners from prisons across Taiwan were sent to Green Island for endless labor and ideological transformation. Today, the site has recreated past dormitory buildings, classrooms, and kitchens, allowing visitors to see lifelike wax figures. In the small dormitory (cell), about 120 to 160 people would have to sleep arranged side by side, making it difficult even to turn over, providing a tangible sense of their suffering and unfair treatment. They would have only a brief hour before bedtime to write letters home, play chess, or practice musical instruments, providing a slight release from the oppressive conditions. The Human Rights Memorial Park contains monuments and an uneven grass field designed to symbolize the dark period and unequal treatment buried beneath the surface. The Human Rights Monument represents the pursuit of freedom from fear in the new era, particularly initiated on International Human Rights Day in 1999, also known as the "Green Island Tear Monument." Its spiral structure allows rainwater to collect in channels and flow to a central point, resembling tears. Adjacent to it is the inscription titled "Tear Monument," featuring words from the famous writer Bo Yang: "In that era, how many mothers wept through long nights for their children imprisoned on this island." These 28 words poignantly encapsulate the suffering of that time.
