Dosan Media
도산 안창호 기록관
No. 3 of 4
Sodaemun, Daejon and Manguri
1909–1973
Imprisonment and Death
Six arrests. Prisoner 1724. Killed in the prison hospital on March 10, 1938. Brought back to Seoul thirty-five years later by his family, with an eighteen-year-old grandson holding the camera.
The leader
How many times did the Japanese police arrest Dosan? How did he die?
Six times. The first after Ahn Jung Gun shot Ito Hirobumi in October 1909. Shanghai in 1932, then four years in Daejon. The last in 1937, in the Suyang Donguhoe Incident: prisoner number 1724. He was tortured many times but kept his secrets and protected his people. According to Dr. Won Tai Sohn, the Japanese Kempeitai ground up glass and put it in his food to make sure he died this time. Dosan died March 10, 1938.
In November 1973 the family brought him back to Seoul. I took the photographs the day the grave was opened. I was 18. This was the only time I saw Dosan.
Philip Ahn Cuddy
The lead record
Photograph · 10 November 1937, per the annotation on the reverse · Sodaemun Prison, Seoul
Prisoner 1724, Sodaemun Prison, 1937
Dosan's prison photograph from his sixth and last arrest. The name 安昌浩 and the number 1724 are written across the lower edge. Sodaemun is West Gate Prison, downtown Seoul.
He was arrested in 1937 for the last time. It involved the Suyang Donguhoe Incident. He had been arrested five times before this; the first after Ahn Jung Gun shot Ito Hirobumi in October 1909. This time he was prisoner number 1724.
There are two kinds of pain. The pain that hurts and the pain that alters. Dosan took all the hurt the Japanese inflicted on him. The Japanese never altered his love for Korea and his countrymen.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
The rest of the file
Document · Date not established · Sodaemun Prison, Seoul
Sodaemun prisoner registration card
One of Dosan's Sodaemun Prisoner registration cards issued by the Japanese police. He was arrested six times. He spent many torture-filled days in Sodaemun Prison.
A number, two views of a face, printed fields filled in by hand. This is how the Japanese recorded the man they could not break. The number across the prison photograph belongs to the same apparatus.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Held, not yet sourced
Photograph · 1935 · Korea
After Daejon, 1935
Dosan arriving to visit friends after four years in Daejon Prison. He was arrested by the Japanese in Shanghai in 1932, a naturalized Chinese citizen, and convicted under the Peace Preservation Law in a Japanese court by Japanese officials in Seoul.
Two years after this photograph he was arrested for the sixth and last time.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · February 1938 · Seoul
February 1938, in the prison hospital
The last picture of Dosan before he was killed by the Japanese police in the hospital. Dosan died 10 March 1938.
According to Dr. Won Tai Sohn the Japanese Kempeitai ground up glass and put it in his food to make sure he died this time.
Held as a draft: the only copy I have is the web copy. When the original is scanned it publishes.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · February 1938 · Seoul
The death mask, February 1938
Death mask artists with Dosan, February 1938.
Held as a draft: web copy only, 301 pixels wide. Publishes when the original is scanned.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · November 1973 · Manguri, Seoul
The grave opened at Manguri, November 1973
Philip Ahn and me at the graveside at Manguri, the day Dosan was moved to Dosan Park. The Japanese had required the burial outside Seoul; thirty-five years later the family brought him back.
I took the photographs that day. I was 18. This was the only time I saw Dosan.
The remains were lifted, assembled and wrapped in hemp cloth, then carried from the hillside outside the city to the park that now carries his name. Four frames survive. The other three are held until I find the originals; the web copies are too small to print.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · November 1973 · Manguri, Seoul
Manguri, November 1973: the remains assembled
Grave workers assembling the remains at Manguri. This was the only time I saw Dosan.
I took this. I was 18. Draft until I find the negative; the web copy is 317 pixels wide.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · November 1973 · Manguri, Seoul
Wrapped in hemp cloth
The remains wrapped in hemp cloth, ma, before the move to Dosan Park.
I was 18. Draft until I find the negative.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record
Photograph · November 1973 · Manguri, Seoul
Manguri, the long view
The hillside at Manguri with the grave open, November 1973.
Draft until I find the negative.
Philip Ahn Cuddy · Verified primary record