The mausoleum is dedicated to Aung San and other leaders of the pre-independence interim government, all of whom were assassinated on 19 July 1947.

[1][2][3] On 19 July 1947, at 10:37 a.m., BST, several of Burma's independence leaders were gunned down while they were holding a cabinet meeting at the Secretariat in downtown Rangoon.

[10] President Chun was saved because his car had been delayed in traffic and was only minutes from arriving at the memorial.

[11][12] After the 1988 Uprising, the State Peace and Development Council junta downgraded the ceremony and the mausoleum became off-limits to ordinary people.

In 2011, the government allowed the public to pay their respects at the mausoleum on Martyrs’ Day, drawing large, emotional crowds.