Jacques Lanzmann, a French journalist, writer, and lyricist, was born on May 4, 1927. He is best recognized for his work as a novelist and his songwriting partnership with Jacques Dutronc.
Lanzmann spent his early years in Auvergne, where his parents, Paulette (Grobermann) and Armand Lanzmann, divorced shortly before World War II. At the age of 12, he became a farmhand. As a Jewish individual, Lanzmann, his mother, and his siblings pretended to be Moroccan Arabs to escape persecution by the Vichy regime following the Battle of France.
In 1943, Lanzmann and his elder brother Claude, who later became a renowned documentary-maker, joined the Communist resistance. Jacques was taken captive by the Germans and was scheduled to be executed by firing squad, but he managed to escape. Lanzmann's father was a prominent figure in the rival Mouvements Unis de la Résistance, but Jacques and Claude were unaware of this until February 1944.
After the war, Lanzmann worked in Paris as a builder and a welder, and demonstrated promise as a painter. During the early 1950s, he relocated to Chile for two years, where he worked as a copper miner.
Lanzmann was married four times and had seven children.
He was an avid traveler and walker. He crossed almost all of the world's deserts, and explored the Sahara Desert at the age of 19. He came close to death while crossing the Taklamakan Desert in 1990. While crossing the Sinai Desert in 1985, he was arrested by Egyptian soldiers on suspicion of spying. In his suitcase, he had a cutting of a Le Monde profile dedicated to him, and was able to secure his release by using this to prove his identity.
Lanzmann passed away on June 21, 2006, at the age of 79, in Paris. His funeral was held on June 26 at the Père-Lachaise cemetery. French President Jacques Chirac paid tribute, stating: "His brilliant songs left an imprint on their era. They will remain for a long time in the hearts of the French."
