Following the brutal suppression of the 228-Incident in March 1947, the incident was swiftly covered up by the KMT-regime. In 1950, the 228-incident vanished from the Taiwanese media altogether, and the regime made every effort to erase the memory of 228 from Taiwanese society. However, the Taiwan Independence Movement (TIM) overseas, which first took root in Japan in the l950s, kept the memory of the incident alive. From the perspective of the TIM, 228 was an important political asset m their struggle for Taiwan Independence, since it could be utilized to rally support against the mainlander-dominated regime of the KMT. Even during and after the process of democratization in Taiwan, when both the call for Taiwan Independence as well as an open debate on the 228-incident were made possible, 228 continued to play an important role for the TIM. This article wishes to show how the TIM utilized the memory of 228 in their struggle for national independence, and how different interpretations of the incident had to be developed in order to preserve its legitimating power for the movement. As could be observed in 2004, these developments are still continuing today.