Joseph Slagver ( Dutch. Jozef Slagveer ), or Joseph Hubert Maria Slagveer ( Dutch. Jozef Hubert Maria Slagveer ; January 25, 1945, Totness , Colony Suriname - December 8, 1982, Paramaribo , Suriname ) - Surinamese journalist, writer and poet. Victim of the December killings .
| Joseph Slagver | |
|---|---|
| niderl. Jozef slagveer | |
 Photography until 1982 | |
| Birth name | |
| Date of Birth | January 25, 1945 |
| Place of Birth | Totness , Colony Suriname |
| Date of death | December 8, 1982 (aged 37) |
| Place of death | Paramaribo , Suriname |
| Citizenship |  Suriname |
| Occupation | journalist , writer , poet |
Biography
Joseph Slagver was born in Totness in Koroni County into a Catholic family; his father wanted him to become a writer, his mother wanted him to become a minister of the church. Slughver studied at St. Anthony’s School in Marys Hope and Secondary School (AMS) in Paramaribo. He then moved to the Netherlands, where he became a student at the Free University in Amsterdam. In 1967, Slagver returned to Suriname.
Initially, he worked in the information department of the Ministry of Education. In 1971, with Rudy Cross, he founded the private information agency Information ( Dutch Informa ) and began to publish a daily newsletter and the magazine News ( Dutch News ). Slugver was one of the first to publicize corruption scandals involving well-known Surinamese politicians, such as the Sumita dossier (1977) and the killing in Saramakka (1980). He also hosted a weekly radio program. He advocated the independence of Suriname. Together with Cross, he spoke about the need to transform the National Party of Suriname into a socialist one. He founded an independent publishing house called Current Press. Slavger was one of the authors and publishers of a brochure on financial fraud at Surinam Airways . For the fight against corruption in 1975, he was out of favor with Governor Arron.
After the independence of Suriname, Slagver wrote a lot about the plight of sergeants in the National Army. When the sergeants made a military coup on February 25, 1980, they appointed him press secretary. Since the end of 1980, the head of the putschists Bauterse has been trying through him to establish contacts with leaders of political parties in the country, including . For some time, Slagver broadcast on television. But he soon saw how the putschists, who called themselves revolutionaries, also engaged in corruption, as politicians had done before. Slughver began to criticize them for this and for the fact that they sought to establish a dictatorship to the detriment of the rights of citizens.
On the night of December 7-8, 1982, Slagver was captured by the military at his home. One of the putschists, Roy Horb, subjected him to particularly brutal torture in order to force the journalist to confess to high treason. Slugver could not stand the bullying and made a statement, which aired on national television on December 8. It was evident that he was brutally tortured. Slughver was killed that evening in Fort Zealand Prison. According to the witness, Bauters personally shot him. The journalist was buried at the Shitbanweg Catholic Cemetery in Paramaribo. In October – December 2002, his remains were exhumed as part of an investigation into the circumstances of the December killings.
Literary activity
Slagveer made its debut in 1959 in the poetic column of the Dutch newspaper . His prose and poetry in Sranan Tongo and Dutch was patriotic. The best examples of Slagver’s prose and poetry are dedicated to his native Koroni district. He is the author of poetry collections “The Sounds of Koroni” ( Kosoe dron Sranan Tongo ) (1967), “Heavy Rain” ( Sibiboesi Sranan Tongo ) (1967), “Treetops” ( Dutch Kankantri ) (1968), “The Tiger fell and we woke up ”( Sranan Tongo Tigri fadon oen wiki ) (1969), the novel“ Crushed Dream ”( Nederl . De verpletterde droom ) (1968) about life in Suriname slums and the novel“ A Woman Like Me ”( Nederl. Een vrouw zoals ik ). He also wrote scripts for theater and cabaret; He is the author of the one-act play “Yusu Nakgwe” (1969) and the script for the documentary “Nights of the Revolution” ( Dutch: De nacht van de revolutie ) (1980). For some time he worked as editor of the magazine "Mutete" ( Dutch. Moetete ) (1968).
In Culture
Slugver is the protagonist in the play by “Tears of Den Yule” ( Dutch. De tranen van Den Uyl ) (1988).