# Anton de Kom is arrested and police fire on the crowd (1 February 1933)

URL: https://allhistories.com/suriname/timeline/1933-anton-de-kom-is-arrested-and-police-fire-on-the-crowd
Location: Paramaribo, Suriname
Themes: main-event

Anton de Kom left the Netherlands with his family on 20 December 1932 and arrived in Suriname on 4 January 1933. He spoke to poor workers about their rights, and on 1 February he was arrested on his way to the governor's office. On 7 February police fired on a crowd demanding his release and killed two people. Born in Paramaribo in 1898, De Kom had worked in the Netherlands and written for socialist and communist journals. The authorities saw his return as a threat to colonial order. On 10 May 1933 he was deported to the Netherlands without trial, after being held for months. The episode made him a hero of the Surinamese working class and turned him into a symbol of anti colonial thought. His banned and later published book of 1934 became a classic. He joined the Dutch resistance, was arrested in 1944 and died in Camp Sandbostel in April 1945, and his memory is now honoured in Suriname and the Netherlands.

## Why it matters
De Kom's brief return in 1933 turned him into the best known anti colonial voice in Suriname.

Ruler at the Time: [Abraham Arnold Lodewijk Rutgers](https://allhistories.com/suriname/rulers/abraham-arnold-lodewijk-rutgers)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Anton de Kom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_de_Kom)
- [canonvannederland.nl — antondekom](https://www.canonvannederland.nl/en/antondekom)