Michel Jacques was born in 1920 in Neuilly sur Seine, France. Jacques was brought to Dachau on October 26, 1944 and registered as prisoner number 116,789. He was imprisoned in the concentration camp of Natzweiler from November 9–18, 1944, but was being held in Dachau at liberation. Following liberation in 1945, Michel Jacques published numerous poems in French-language anthologies.

Voyage

Depuis deux jours, le train semble tourner en rond

dans un pays qui ne doit plus être le nôtre

Debout: »Hommes 40«, lit-on, et nous sommes

cent vingt.

Sans eau, sans air, la folie naît

La panique

Le bruit du train n'est plus pour moi

que ces trois mots

inlassablement répétés

Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—

Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—

Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—

Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—

Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—

Journey

For two days now it seems our train is going nowhere

in a land no longer ours. On a plaque we read:

Standing: Men 40, when we are

one hundred and twenty.

With no water, no air, there is madness,

Panic,

The noise of the train that is now no more

than a couple of words

repeated endlessly

Death train—Death train—Death train

Death train—Death train—Death train

Death train—Death train—Death train

Death train—Death train—Death train

Death train—Death train—Death train