Anton de Kom
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'''Cornelis Gerard Anton de Kom''' ([[22 February]] [[1898]] – [[24 April]] [[1945]]) was a [[Suriname]]se resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author.
==Biography==
De Kom was born in [[Paramaribo]] to farmer Adolf de Kom and Judith Jacoba Dulder. His father was born a [[slavery|slave]]. As was not uncommon, his surname is a reversal of the slave owner's name, who was called ''Mok''.
De Kom finished primary and secondary school and obtained a diploma in bookkeeping. He worked for the ''Balata Compagnieën Suriname en Guyana''. On [[29 July]] [[1920]] he resigned and left for [[Haiti]] where he worked for the ''Societé Commerciale Hollandaise Transatlantique''. In [[1921]] he left for [[the Netherlands]]. He volunteered for the ''Huzaren'' (a Dutch [[cavalry]] [[regiment]]) for a year. In [[1922]] he started working for a consultancy in [[The Hague]]. One year later he was laid off due to a reorganization. He then became a sales representative selling coffee, tea and tobacco for a company in The Hague, where he met his future wife. In addition to his work, he was active in numerous left-wing organizations, including nationalist Indonesian student organisations and ''Links Richten'' (Aim Left).
De Kom and his family left for [[Suriname]] on [[20 December]] [[1932]] and arrived on [[4 January]] [[1933]]. From that moment on he was closely watched by the [[colonial]] authorities. He started a consultancy in his parents' house. On [[February 1]] he was arrested while en route to the governor's office with a large group of followers. Both on [[February 3]] and the day after, his followers gathered in front of the [[Attorney General]]'s office to demand De Kom's release. On [[February 7]], a large crowd gathered on the Oranjeplein (currently called the Onafhankelijkheidsplein). Rumor had it that De Kom was about to be released. When the crowd refused to leave the square, police opened fire, killing two people and wounding 30.
On [[May 10]], De Kom was sent to [[The Netherlands]] without trial and exiled from his native country. He was unemployed and continued writing his book, ''Wij slaven van Suriname'' (We Slaves of Suriname) which was published in a censored form in [[1934]]. De Kom participated in demonstrations for the unemployed, traveled abroad with a group as a tap dancer, and was drafted for ''Werkverschaffing'' (unemployment relief work), a program similar to the American [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]], in [[1939]]. He gave lectures for leftist groups, mainly [[communists]], about [[colonialism]] and [[racial discrimination]].
After [[The Netherlands in World War II|the German invasion]] in [[1940]], De Kom joined the Dutch resistance, especially the communist party in [[The Hague]]. He wrote articles for the underground paper ''De Vonk'' of the communist party, mainly about the terror of [[fascist]] groups in the streets of The Hague (much of their terror was directed against [[Jews]]). On [[7 August]] [[1944]], he was arrested. He was imprisoned at the Oranje Hotel in [[Scheveningen]], and transferred to ''Camp [[Vught]]'', a Dutch [[concentration camp]]. In early September [[1944]] he was sent to [[Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen]], where he was forced to work for the [[Heinkel]] aircraft factory. De Kom died on [[24 April]] [[1945]] of [[tuberculosis]] in Camp Sandbostel near [[Bremervörde]] (between Bremen and Hamburg), which was a satellite camp of concentration camp [[Neuengamme]]. He was buried in a [[mass grave]]. In [[1960]], his remains were found and brought to the Netherlands. They were buried in the Cemetery of Honour in Loenen.
De Kom was married to a Dutch woman, Petronella Borsboom. They had four children. Their son Cees de Kom lives in Suriname.
The University of Suriname was renamed The [[Anton de Kom University of Suriname]] in honour of De Kom.
Anton de Kom was listed in [[De Grootste Nederlander]] (The Greatest Dutchman/Dutchwoman) as #102 out of 202 people.
In [[Amsterdam Zuidoost]] a square is named after him, the ''Anton de Kom plein''. It features a sculpture of Anton de Kom as a monument to his life and works, sculpted by Jikke van Loon.
==Written work==
* Anton de Kom: ''Wij slaven van Suriname'' (1934; uncensored edition 1971). English translation: ''We Slaves of Surinam'', 1987 (Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan).
==External links==
* [http://www.antondekom.nl/ antondekom.nl] website devoted to the Anton de Kom square and monument.
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[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:Nazi concentration camp victims]]
[[Category:Dutch resistance]]
[[Category:Surinamese socialists]]
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