Anton de Kom

Cornelis Gerhard Anton de Kom (22 February 1898 – 24 April 1945) was a Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author. He was arrested in Suriname

Biography

De Kom was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, to farmer Adolf de Kom and Judith Jacoba Dulder. His father was born a slave.

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, Nel. In 1929, de Kom was a speaker at the 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party Holland (CPH) where he emphasised that the people of Suriname live in poverty without rights, and to his delight a resolution passed to change the slogan to "Indonesia, Suriname and Curaçao, immediate and full independence from the Netherlands".

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. Over 2,000 people showed up, de Kom gave a short speech, and continued his journey to The Hague.

De Kom was inspired by Albert Helman's Zuid-Zuid-West (1926) which ended with a fierce anti-colonial epilogue. During his time in the Netherlands, he was often unemployed, and decided to write his own book about the history of Suriname and slavery called, Wij slaven van Suriname (We Slaves of Suriname) which was published in a censored form in 1934. was pressured not to release the book, and the Centrale Inlichtingendienst (secret service) demanded and was given a preliminary copy in violation of the freedom of press. He gave lectures for leftist groups, mainly communists, about colonialism and racial discrimination. De Kom joined the Dutch resistance, Another son, Cees de Kom, lives in Suriname. His grandson Antoine de Kom is a Dutch writer and poet.

Aftermath Part of his unpublished novel Ons bloed is rood (Our blood is red) appeared in Adek (1983). SAWO went on to petition the Government for rehabilitation.

In 2008, Vereniging Ons Suriname rediscovered manuscripts which were lost in the 1960s. The manuscripts contained the movie scenario Tjiboe, parts of the novels Ons bloed is rood and Om een hap rijst (For a bit of rice), and several Anansi-stories, a spider who represents skill and wisdom in folktales of the Akan people. The archives were presented to Michiel van Kempen by Anton de Kom's children Ad and Judith de Kom, and are on display at the Literature Museum.

In 1981, the Pontewerfstraat in Frimangron, Paramaribo was renamed to Anton de Komstraat. On 17 October 1983, In 2007, the LBR Lecture, an annual lecture against racism and discrimination organised by the Resistance Museum, was renamed Anton de Kom Lecture.

In 2020, de Kom was added as a subject on the Canon of the Netherlands. De Kom is the first Surinamese citizen to be added to the 50 vital subjects to be taught in school in the Netherlands. Ingrid van Engelshoven, Dutch Minister of Education, stressed that the shadow sides of society needed to be addressed as well. A film about Anton Kom is in the making as of 2020. In February 2018, a short film, Anton de Kom, In het harnas van koloniaal Nederland, directed and written by Ray Blinker and Greg Macousi, premiered in Amsterdam, Netherlands.