Jean Ferrat
was born as Jean Tenenbaum on 26 December 26, 1930 at Vaucresson,
France, as the youngest child of four. His father Menachem,
a Jewish emigrant from Russia, was deported in 1942 to the concentration
camp Auschwitz when Jean was 11 years old. Jean was saved by
a resistance fighter. Father Menachem died in Auschwitz. Jean
left school after the liberation to help his family to survive
financially.
Jean Ferrat became a French singer, musician,
composer and song writer. He wrote about 200 songs. His career
started at the end of the 1950's. In 1961, he married Christine
Sèvres who was also a singer. She incorporated some of
his songs into her repertoire.
He died on March 13, 2010 in hospital in
Aubenas.
One of his well-known songs is ‘La Montagne’,
which has been covered in other languages apart from French.
Ferrat was known for his critical views on social society.
For this reason his songs were banished from French broadcastings
during the sixties. The song which we are presenting is about
concentration camps, undoubtedly a reference to what happened
to his father.
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