Note: This song was learned by Norah Friede while in Dachau concentration camp from French prisoners toward the end of 1944. The song is about the Drancy deportation camp, an infamous temporary prison camp in the city of Drancy, north of Paris, France. Like many other detention centres throughout France, Drancy was created by the Vichy government of Philippe Pétain in 1941 and was under the control of the French police until July 1, 1943 when Nazi Germany took day to day control as part of the major stepping up at all facilities for the mass exterminations. The camp at Drancy was in a multi-storey complex designed to hold 700 people, but at its peak in it held more than 7,000. There is documented evidence and testimony recounting the brutality of the French guards in Drancy and the brutal conditions imposed on the people including the small children who, upon their arrival, were immediately separated from their parents. Many French Jewish intellectuals and artists were held in Drancy, including Max Jacob, philosopher Tristan Bernard and the choreographer René Blum.