This book was originally derived from the projects of “Oral History Interviews of Association of Redressing White Terror Cases in the 1950s” and “Oral History Interviews of Victims of Political Cases before and after the Lift of Martial Law,” carried out in 2014 and 2016 by Institute of Taiwan History, National Chengchi University, under the commission of the Preparatory Office of National Human Rights Museum. In 2020, the Museum commissioned Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica for another project called “Editing and Publication of Oral History Materials Collected at National Human Rights Museum,” in which 11 interview records selected from the outcome of the aforementioned 2016 and 2014 projects, with 180 thousand Chinese characters in total, were selected and edited into this book.

 

Centering on the “White Terror,” this book contains interviews with victims of political cases and their families. The interviewees were mainly those seldom interviewed before or should be interviewed again, and they were separated based on the dates of the cases they involved. This book focuses on the victimized families’ life experience and thoughts in the 1950s. The significance of publishing this book is to rescue “historical memory” and confront the voice of the victims and their families. Through this book, we hope readers can better understand the atmosphere during the White Terror Era, and researchers can compare the oral history with official documents to clarify historical facts and accountability. We believe this book also helps to promote transformative justice and can be used as reference for the task.