Anton de Kom

He wrote and gave lectures about the slavery past and his own experiences of oppression. The colonial authorities in Suriname arrested De Kom in 1932, prompting fierce protests. He went into exile in the Netherlands, where he published his anticolonial treatise We Slaves of Suriname (Wij slaven van Suriname), an indictment of the colonial authorities and a call for equality for all Surinamese people. He was active in the resistance during the Second World War, and in 1945 he died in Sandbostel concentration camp. De Kom remains a key inspirational figure for those combating injustice. In 2020 he was inducted into the Canon of the Netherlands , and in 2023 the Dutch government cleared his name and apologised to his family.