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from Part I - Camp Life: The Reality 1933–1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
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—
La haine de celui qui vous colle au corps
monte en vous
Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—
Une horrible envie de carnage
A votre bouche le goût du sang
Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—
Si vous le balanciez dehors
peut-être un peu plus d'air pour vous
Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—
Ce corps qui s'affaisse
vous le piétinez avec rage
Train de mort—Train de mort—Train de mort—
L'horrible odeur vous étouffe
La nuit tombe en vous.
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
A hatred for the man pressed against you
rises within
Death train—Death train—Death train
An awful desire for carnage
The taste of blood in your mouth
Death train—Death train—Death train
If you could chuck him out
You'd maybe get more air
Death train—Death train—Death train
This body slumped beside you
You trample it, enraged
Death train—Death train—Death train
The foul smell makes you gag
Within you night falls.
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