Erich Remarque
Author of "All Quiet on the Western Front"
Event Information
Born
When?
Wednesday, Jun 22, 1898, 12:00 PM
Where?
Osnabrück, Saxony, Germany
Biography
Erich Remarque was the pen-name for the German novelist Erich Remark, born 1898, who wrote about the horrors of WWI from the German's perspective. He wrote from experience, his time as a soldier in the trenches influencing and driving his writings of "All Quiet on the Western Front," "A Time to Love and a Time to Die," and many more war novels. All of his writings were ordered to be burned by the Nazis when they returned to power, causing Remark to flee Germany to Switzerland and then to the US. He did not only save himself however, he also remarried his ex-wife to get her to Switzerland, divorced her there and then married an American actress. Erich Remarque died in 1970.
Life as a Soldier and After
Remarque enlisted into the army at the age of 18, straight out of high school. The army seemed a good place for opportunity, because he was born into modest circumstances. He fought on the Western Front, was wounded many times, and it was here that he got the inspiration for most of his stories. After the end of the war, Remarque, like many other veterans, didn't know what to do. He became a teacher, then a stonecutter, then the editor of a magazine, and then finally a writer. His books "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Arc of Triumph" were best-sellers and international successes, with "All Quiet on the Western Front" even being turned into an American film.
His Writings
All Quiet on the Western Front
Trench Warfare and the war from the perspective of young soldiers
A Time to Love and a Time to Die
A love story between a soldier on the Eastern Front and a woman back home
The Black Obelisk
1920s Germnay from a WWI veteran
Heaven Has No Favorites
A love story between a man and a woman with tuberculosis
Three Comrades
How a man's life and outlook on it was changed by the trenches
Arch of Triumph
On stateless refugees in Paris before WWII
Spark of Life
About a political prisoner in a german camp
The Road Back
Shows the life and mindset of young men coming back from the trenches
The NIght in Lisbon
A man's story as a german refugee at the beginning of WWII
Event Information
Died
When?
Friday, Sep 25, 1970, 12:00 PM
Where?