The whistling faun

With his music, Hans Krieg shed some light in the darkness of camp Westerbork. With his guitar he taught the children songs and with his recorder he would sometimes pop up in unexpected places. A letter to him, written by a prisoner in January 1944 contains a fitting description: ‘the whistling faun’.

From this letter:

"The most impressive fellow in our barracks, no. 68, is the musician Hans Krieg. Everyone in the camp knows his stout figure. He's always wearing a greasy brown Basque beret, and goes around from one barracks to the next with his bag of music books and compositions, teaching the children."

"And he repeats some Yiddish or Hebrew song for the umpteenth time. That's his forté, Yiddish and Hebrew. The second he strikes up the first chords on his guitar, his entire being is transformed, as if by magic. He doesn't sing or recite his songs, he lives them!"

“But as a faun he is quite the type. He always carries his recorder with him. He pops up when you least expect it and we all hear him improvise. His sharp little black eyes glisten and sparkle like those of a child after some deed of mischief. If someone unconsciously whistles a tune and Hans notices, he trails the whistler and when this person turns around to see where this unexpected accompaniment came from, Hans thoroughly enjoys the practical joke.”

"When I think back to W’bork in the future, one of the few bright spots connected to W’bork for me will be having met and listened to Hans Krieg."