Death Row: Memoirs of Shih Ming-teh, 1962-1964

The terroir here is a harsh, tanned flavor of immense suffering and the liver and gall of condemned prisoners. Faith, with wings spread out, mingles with alcohol, radiating in the veins leading to tomorrow. — Shih Ming-teh

The book "Death Row" records the saddest era in Taiwan's history. Some died heroically, others died in humiliation, and countless people lived every night in fear of not seeing the sun tomorrow...

Mr. Shih Ming-teh spent a quarter of a century in prison.

Among the prisoners in prison, there are both wronged souls and heroic spirits who have passed away; while those detained are mostly disembodied bodies that have lost their souls.

Shih Ming-teh, who faced the only death penalty prosecution under the "Two-Article One" law twice in his life, spent three years documenting the final days of the death row inmates he accompanied from 1962 to 1964. He did not forget those long forgotten by Taiwanese society. These were not the so-called left-wing, right-wing, pro-unification, and pro-independence dichotomies. These were the rare idealists of the 1950s, unlike those who scraped by in this society. They were the ordinary people who risked their lives for their idealism.

The memoir is called "Death Row."

To this day, they are still wandering souls in the wind and rain, with no one recording their names in history.

Anyone whose life is ended by those in power because of their thoughts and beliefs deserves the gratitude of future generations.

Recording all of this is the obligation of every survivor.

They have been lonely for too long.

2021-12-07

時報出版

368

9789571397405