Erich Maria Remarque

Osnabrück

Early Years

 Erich Remarque was born on June 22nd, 1898, in Osnabrück Germany.  His father was a book binder and a machinist. The Remarque's lived paycheck to paycheck and they moved to many different apartments while Erich was a child. He was a very talented musician and writer at an early age and he gave piano lessons to young girls to pay for books to get through school.  He had many poems and essays published into his local newspaper as a teenager. 

The Great War

Remarque was enlisted into the German army at the age of 17 as an infantryman. He did his basic Training in Osnabrück but was transferred to Celle soon after to visit his mother who died of cancer a few months later. After his basic training and his time in Celle, Remarque and his company marched to Flanders where they battled one of the worst fights of the war. Erich's best friend died during this fighting. Erich also got injured and was sent away from the war and wasn't declared fit for war until four days before the armistice. This quote sums up his feeling of the war it is taken out of All Quiet on the Western Front, “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one ” 

Post War 

After the War Remarque suffered from Post Traumatic Stress disorder and depression. He had a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that he couldn't pursue his life long dream of becoming a concert pianist. He injured his arm during the war which made it difficult to play. Before he began working All Quiet on Western Front he wrote a book that he later would embarrassed by and change his name to distance himself from it. he played Organ for a church,  he sold fabric and he carved tombstones. He married 24 year old dancer and actress, Jutta "Jeanne" Zambonna. 

All Quiet on the Western Front

The story in German is called Im Westen nichts Neues and it was was originally serialized in a German magazine between November 10th to December 9th, 1928. In the next year it became a novel in English called All Quiet on the Western Front. The book was highly controversial and many Germans thought that he was misrepresenting Germany. But the book still sold a million and a half copies in one year. He soon made it into a black and white motion picture which was a huge success and won an academy award for best picture (All Quiet on the Western Front The Movie). The movie greatly unsettled the Nazi's and it was banned because they believed it misrepresented Germany. This was the beginning of a slew of propaganda against Remarque these included lies saying that he was a jew and that he supported Marxism. Despite this he came out with the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front which was called The Three Comrades. In June of 1938 Remarque was stripped of his citizenship and was forced to move to the French Riviera where he drank heavily and lived with his companion Marlene Dietrich. When the war intensified he fled to america where he began a life and continued writing but with great sadness because his youngest sister was beheaded by the Nazi's. 

Paulette Goddard

Later Years 
Remarque continued writing and his work in  film  throughout the 50's and 60's. He finished his life living in Locarno,  Switzerland with his new wife Paulette Goddard Remarque. He died on September 25th, 1970. 


Works Cited

History.com staff. "Erich Maria Remarque." History.Com. A+E Networks, 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/erich-maria-remarque-born>.

 Ink Drop Reviews. N.p., 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <https://inkdropsreviews.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/review-all-quiet-on-the-western-front-erich-maria-remarque/>.

"Paulette Goddard." Wikipedia. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Wikipedia. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulette_Goddard>.

Ruggenberg, Rob. "Extremes in No Man's Land." The Heritage of the Great War. N.p., 1994. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-hitlere.html>.

"Schloss Osnabrück." Wikipedia. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Wikpedia. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Osnabr%C3%BCck>.

Van Kirk, Susan. CliffsNotes on All Quiet on the Western Front. 18 Mar 2015

</literature/a/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/book-summary>.
The Charge- All Quiet on the Western Front. Youtube. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 
     2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciq9ts02ci4>.