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Anton de Kom’s Fountain Pen

h 12 cm x w 1 cm
1940-1944

Even before the Second World War, the writer and activist Anton de Kom fought with all his heart for equality between blacks and whites in the Dutch colony of Suriname. His book Wij slaven van Suriname (We Slaves of Suriname) was a symbol of resistance against colonialism.

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Anton de Kom and his family. In the middle his son Ad de Kom. Photo ca. 1932 (Source: Image Bank WW2 – NIOD).
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The Dutch Colonial Government considered him dangerous and in 1933 had him shipped off to the Netherlands. In 1940, Anton de Kom joined the Dutch Resistance in The Hague. He wrote anonymous articles for the left-wing illegal newspaper De Vonk (Lit. The Spark). His son Ad de Kom shared some memories of his father: ‘He usually wrote on Sundays. Then he settled back into an armchair in the sitting room with a stack of books and paper.’ When Anton de Kom was arrested on 7 August 1944, he left this Pelikan fountain pen behind. After imprisonment in several camps, Anton de Kom finally ended up in the notorious Sandbostel POW Camp in Germany. He died there in 1945 under the most horrendous conditions.