Anton de Kom

Anti-colonial writer and human rights activist Anton de Kom (1898-1945) was a son of a former slave from Surinam. In the 30's he lived in Surinam, a colony of the Netherlands. He protested against it and was sent to jail. February 7, 1933, became 'Black Tuesday' when a large crowd gathered in Paramaribo to demand his release. Police opened fire and resulting in 30 wounded and 2 deaths. De Kom was sent back to the Netherlands, and wrote the historical novel "We Slaves Of Surinam" in 1934 (it became a bestseller in 2020), he lived in Amsterdam on Reestraat 6 (nowadays a restaurant) and during World War II he became a resistance fighter. He was captured and died of tuberculosis in a German camp in 1945. He was rewarded posthumus with the Dutch Cross of Resistance. In Surinam he is seen as a hero.

Anton de Kom statue (2006) by Jikke van Loon, is located on Anton de Kom Square in Amsterdam South-East (Bijlmer). The artist cut the statue out of a gele kabbes tree (Fava Armogosa) from the Surinamese inland that was shipped to the Netherlands. The statue caused controversy, because he's naked and was created by a white artist.

The Martin Luther King statue stood next to Anton de Kom unharmed for almost half a year, but then disappeared. Stolen? After an intensive research, it appeared to be in a depot, and it came back. His legs were broken but he was still standing.