Anton de Kom was born on the 22nd of February 1898 in Suriname. He was born into a family of 6 children – 3 girls and 3 boys. His parents encouraged him to study and he spent his youth musing over many books. His first job was at the Balata Compagnie, where already he was exposed to much injustice and exploitation. Through Haiti he went to the Netherlands, where he arrived on the 1st of November 1920. Here he met his wife to be, who would bear them four children. In 1933 he returned to Suriname, but got arrested within a month and was banished to the Netherlands by the colonial authorities. Upon the Nazi occupation, he joined the Dutch resistance. On the 7th of August, he was captured by the Nazis and wheeled off to a concentration camp. There he met his end on the 24th of April 1945, succumbing to tuberculosis. The work by which Anton the Kom is best known nowadays is his book ‘We Slaves of Suriname’.