ENGLISH - Caprichos Daneses

In the years leading up to the Second World War, Piet Hein
was a member of the anti-nazi association Liberal Cultural
Struggle, which worked for democracy and against dictatorship.
A few days before the German occupation of Denmark,
he accepted the post of chairman in the association, and
a few days later – on 14 April 1940 – as his first teasing
comment on the occupying power he came up with a double
entendre (the Danish word ‘længes’ means both ‘to long’ and
‘to grow long’) poem – Piet Hein’s first Grook:
SPRING SADNESS
The days
are longing,
longing, longing.
What are they
longing for
The days
are longing
l o n g i n g
longing
for midsummer.
This marked the beginning of the world-famous Grooks,
which have since appeared in every conceivable language.
There are over 8000 of them.
During the war, Piet Hein had a Jewish wife. And in 1943,
he left Denmark with his family for Buenos Aires in Argentina,
where they lived for a couple of years. There Piet Hein
continued his own personal struggle against the Nazis,
producing a long series of satirical drawings for the Buenos
Aires Herald that featured Hitler, Goebbels and Mussolini as
main characters.
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