Erich Maria Remarque German writer. Biography of Erich Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque is an outstanding prose writer of the twentieth century, a representative of the writers " lost generation", one of the most famous Germans, who was not afraid to openly oppose the ideas of Nazism. He spoke on uncomfortable topics, depicted the horrors of war through the eyes of ordinary soldiers, showed the life of emigrants, looked into smoky taverns, cheap hotels, midnight restaurants, soldiers' trenches, German concentration camps, cold prison cells. And he did it so talentedly, so artistically and stylistically competently that, despite the topicality in the first half of the 20th century, his works continue to enjoy constant reader interest in the 21st.

Over his many years of creative career, Remarque wrote 14 novels, he was in demand, famous, rich, and enjoyed success with women, and chic women at that. The writer died at the age of 72, before last days maintaining the ability to write. Expelled from Nazi Germany, he became a real star of its time. And this brilliant story began in Osnabrück in 1898.

Erich Paul Remarque: childhood and adolescence

On June 22, 1898, in the German city of Osnabrück (province of Hanover), the Remarque couple gave birth to their second son, Erich Paul. Much later, in memory of his beloved mother, a nineteen-year-old boy will change his middle name. He will become Erich Maria Remarque and glorify this name throughout the world.

But we are still very far from reaching the heights of the literary Olympus. Young Erich Paul grows up like all ordinary children: he collects butterflies, stamps, stones, passionately loves his mother and suffers bitterly due to the lack of her attention (Maria Remarque is forced to devote a lot of time to her sickly first-born Theodore Arthur, who, alas, died at the age of five ).

Erich's father, Peter Franz, works as a bookbinder. There are always a lot of books in the Remarques' house, and therefore children have free access to examples of ancient, classical and modern literature. Young Erich shows creative inclinations early on - he is interested in painting, music, reading and writing. Because of his passion for the latter, in elementary school Remarque is called a “dirty boy” because he is always writing something and is smeared with ink.

Remarque chooses a teaching career as his future specialty. He acquired professional skills in the Catholic and then in the royal teachers' seminaries. During his seminary years, Erich made like-minded friends. He talks with them for a long time in the “Attic of Dreams” on Liebechstrasse and attends the “Circle of Dreams” for aspiring writers.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Remarque went to the front. Based on experience drawn from historical and works of art, the young man’s consciousness depicted the war in a heroic arena. Three years of service (1917–1919) revealed to Erich the true face of the war. And it turned out to be ugly. Young Remarque faced a soldier's life full of hardships and injustice, lost his comrades and himself came close to death. From then on, Remarque became a convinced pacifist. In his works, he condemned any manifestation of violence, spoke of the senselessness and hatred of war. He did not change his point of view even when the Nazi government addressed him with sharp criticism. Remarque left his homeland, but not his own life principles.

The path to self-determination. Choice of profession

In 1917, Erich Paul buries his mother, who died of cancer, and in memory of his parent becomes Erich Maria. Two years later, he finally breaks with army service and moves to the spacious house of his father, who by this time has already managed to remarry. Here Erich Maria creates her first novel, Attic of Dreams. The creative debut was just a test of the pen. Subsequently, Remarque did not like to remember his youthful creation and made a lot of efforts to personally buy up the remainder of the circulation.

Remarque decides to put off writing. Being a certified teacher, he tries himself in the teaching field, but soon becomes disillusioned with his chosen profession. Remarque continues his search - he works as an accountant, teaches piano, plays the organ in the hospital chapel and even sells tombstones. Finally, future writer falls into the journalistic environment and, after lengthy ordeals, finds his calling. Now it’s decided - he will write!

In 1927, the novel “Station on the Horizon” was published in the pages of Sport im Bild, and two years later, in 1929, the novel “On Western Front no change." The anti-war work, based on the real experience of Remarque the soldier, was a stunning success and brought its author fame, money and a strong place in world literature. One and a half million copies were sold within a year. And already in 1930, the American film studio Universal Pictures released a film of the same name, directed by Lewis Milestone. The film received two Oscars in the categories Best movie and Best Director.

But at home, the anti-war work turned out to be inappropriate. The Berlin premiere of the film was disrupted on the personal orders of Goebbels - auditorium They were bombarded with stinking bombs and mice. Three years later, Remarque was subjected to severe persecution. His books were publicly set on fire, and the publication of new works by the writer was out of the question.

The author of “All Quiet on the Western Front” joined the cohort of writers of the so-called “lost generation”, those who, having gone through the hardships of war in their youth, acutely hated violence and were unable to fully adapt to peaceful life. John Dos Passos, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Aldington, Ernest Hemingway and others poured out similar bitter experiences on the pages of their works.

Fortunately, when Remarque fell out of favor with the Nazis, he was already recognized by the world. The writer successfully emigrated to Switzerland and then to the USA, where eight years later he received American citizenship. Erich Maria Remarque published continuously, was a very wealthy man, paid great attention to clothing, and therefore became known as one of the most stylish representatives of literary bohemia. “Money,” Remarque ironically, “does not bring happiness, but it has a very calming effect.”

Personal life and hobbies

He transferred his childhood passion for collecting to a slightly different plane, replacing butterflies and pebbles with antique carpets and paintings by Van Gogh, Renoir, and Paul Cezanne. Remarque's life was always visible. He was surrounded by celebrities: Ruth Albu, Paulette Goddard, Greta Garbo... and just look at his long-term romance with Marlene Dietrich and the collection of letters addressed to her!

Remarque spends the last decade of his life in Switzerland. He returns to his beloved Europe with his second wife, actress Paulette Goddard, who became the delight of the writer’s twilight years. Despite the heart problems that tormented Remarque, even in his eighties, he is of sound mind and continues to work. His last novel, Shadows in Paradise, or The Promised Land, was published posthumously.

Erich Maria Remarque died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 72. The writer was buried in the Swiss city of Locarno at the Ronco cemetery.

Over his many years of creative career, Erich Maria Remarque turned to various literary genres. He wrote essays, journalistic notes, film scripts, and stories, but in world art Remarque is known primarily as an outstanding novelist. He has 14 novels to his credit, which continue to be successfully republished to this day.

His debut novel, The Attic of Dreams, also known as The Shelter of Dreams, was published in 1920. The work immerses the reader in the environment of artists - composers, artists and their beautiful muses. Thematically and stylistically the novel clearly stands out among the writer’s other works. There is still no recognizable Remarque pessimism, midnight restaurants, his famous Calvados, drinking and non-drinking heroes. The author himself was subsequently embarrassed by his debut creation and did not like to mention it.

In 1924, Remarque wrote the novel “Gam” about a fatal beauty who is looking for happiness and new experiences in the most exotic places on the planet. The work, however, saw the light only after the writer’s death in 1998.

In 1928, the prose writer outlined the path for further creativity and wrote the novel “Station on the Horizon.” Its main characters are young racing drivers – representatives of the so-called “lost generation”. They went through the tribulations of the First World War and are now trying to compensate for the lack of adrenaline on the motorway.

The novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” published in 1929, made Remarque’s name. The story is told from the perspective of private soldier Paul Bäumer. He is only 19 years old, he and his classmates are called to the front. Bäumer innocently describes the war without embellishment, in all its ugly ugliness, just as it is.

Continuing the theme of the “lost generation”, Remarque writes “The Return” (1931). Here his soldiers were lucky enough to survive the war, but they fail to return the same. It turns out that there, under the bullets, everything was much simpler and clearer than in this cruel, changed peaceful city.

In 1936, Denmark released the most readable novel Remark "Three Comrades". The theme of the “lost generation” is organically intertwined with tragic love. Prototype main character Pat Holman became the first wife of the writer Jutta Zambona, who, like Patricia, suffered from tuberculosis.

5 years later, in 1941, the book “Love Thy Neighbor” was published as a separate edition. The novel is dedicated to the problems of emigration, persecution of Jews, as well as the problem of survival in “peaceful” times after great war.

1945 and another masterpiece - the novel Arc de Triomphe. At the center of the work love story a German emigrant engaged in illegal surgical practice, Ravik and actress Joan Madu. It is noteworthy that the prototype of the main female image was Marlene Dietrich, with whom Remarque had a long and rather painful affair. The choice of the name of the central character is not accidental - Marlene, jokingly, called Remarque Ravik.

Bitterly experiencing the death of his sister Elfrida, who was hanged by the Nazis for her relationship with the disgraced writer, Remarque dedicates the novel to her. The work entitled "Spark of Life" was published in 1952. The setting for the development of the plot is a German concentration camp. The main character, the former editor of a liberal newspaper, has no name, only the number - 509. Behind him is grief, torture, hunger, his body is exhausted, and his soul is tormented, but hope for salvation glimmers in it. And it is very close, because it is 1945.

In 1954, Remarque continues military theme in the cult novel A Time to Live and a Time to Die, and later returned to develop themes of post-war survival and sad love in the ruins of the former world in The Black Obelisk (1956) and Borrowed Life (1959).

"Night in Lisbon" (1962) became last novel, published during the writer’s lifetime. It tells the story of lovers fleeing Nazi persecution. On the refugees' route, they meet a stranger who agrees to help them only if they listen to his life story.

Next we will analyze Erich Maria Remarque’s novel “Life on Borrow,” dedicated to the same “lost generation,” people who never woke up from the horror of war and were haunted by the past.

In his thirteenth novel, “Night in Lisbon,” Remarque tried to convey the life of people who found themselves outcasts in Germany after the war, and who sought refuge in foreign lands, enduring persecution and shame.

Novel "Shadows in Paradise" ( working title– “The Promised Land”) was published in 1971. He talks about immigrants from different corners war-torn Europe. They all come to the land of dreams - distant, brilliant America. But for many of them, paradise on earth turned out to be not as rosy as it seemed.

Biography of Erich Maria Remarque: representative of the “lost generation”

Erich Paul Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in the city of Osnabrück, in the family of bookbinder Peter Franz Remarque and his wife Anna Maria. While still at school, he decided to connect his life with art: he studied drawing and music. Shocked by the death of his mother, Remarque changes his name to Erich Maria at the age of 19.

In his novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues), he portrays her as a caring mother figure to the protagonist Paul Boimar. Remarque's relationship with his father is rather more distant, and they also have different views on the world. Remarque grows up next to his two sisters, Erna and Elfrida.

Having passed his primary school exams (1912), Remarque began working as a teacher, but his work was interrupted by the 1st World War. After short period training, Remarque is sent to the Western Front, where he is wounded in 1917. During his stay in a military hospital, Remarque writes stories and prose. In 1919, at the end of the war, Remarque passed exams and for the next two years taught in various primary schools in the countryside. Leaving his teaching career, he takes on a series of odd jobs within the city of Osnabrück, including work as a tombstone salesman. His autobiographical written novel The Black Obelisk (1956) makes many references to this period.

In the fall of 1922, Remarque left Osnabrück and went to work at the Continental Rubber and Gutta-Percha Company in Hanover, now known as Continental, and began not only to compose slogans, accompanying texts and PR material, but also to write articles for the “home” magazine of the company "Echo-Continental". REMARQUE - written according to the rules of French spelling - an allusion to the Huguenot origins of the family.

Soon Remarque expanded the field of his activity. Not limiting himself to the company magazine, he began to publish in such magazines as Jugend and the leading sports magazine Sport im Bild, which willingly took his travel notes. A whole essay on cocktails appeared in the magazine Störtebecker - a very original name for periodical, since "Störtebeker" was a fifteenth-century Hanseatic pirate, a kind of Robin Hood. Articles in Shport im Bild opened the door to literature for the young writer, and in 1925 Remarque left Hannover and moved to Berlin, where he became the illustration editor of the aforementioned magazine.

Erich Remarque first saw his name in print at the age of twenty, when the magazine Schönheit published his poem “Me and You” and two short stories “The Woman with Golden Eyes” and “From Youthful Times.” From then on, Remarque did not stop writing and publishing almost until his death. These works had everything that Remarque's books would later be distinguished by - simple language, precise dry descriptions, witty dialogues - but they went unnoticed and could not stand out from the streams of pulp literature that filled German shops in the first post-war years.

In 1925, Jutta Ingeborg Ellen Zambona and Erich Maria Remarque were married in Berlin. Jutta Tsambon, who added the name Zhanna to her name, sat next to Remarque all night long while he wrote for himself after working at the publishing house. In 1927, his second novel, Station on the Horizon, was published. It was published and continued in the magazine “Sport im Bild”. It is known that this novel was never published as a separate book. It can also be assumed that during next year Jeanne kept him company when he wrote All Quiet on the Western Front in six weeks. Just as little as Remarque spoke about his marriage, he spoke just as little about the reasons for his divorce, which followed in 1932. They said that she preferred another man, a film producer, known to be a dazzling admirer beautiful women. And although she robbed him completely, after the divorce he sent her flowers, this was typical of him. After Hitler deprived both of their citizenship in 1937, Remarque married Jeanne a second time in order to give her a new passport and Panama papers, and then American ones to replace those lost for one reason only - as punishment for the fact that she was Mrs. Erich Maria Remarque.

1929, Remarque records his experiences of the war and traumatic memories of it in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. When it appeared in print - in the newspaper "Vossische Zeitung" (1928) and in bookstores by January 1929, “All Quiet on the Western Front” captures the imagination of millions. The novel brings Remarque popularity and financial independence, but also political hostility. Three years later, He writes another novel, “Return” (1931), in which he depicts the problems of soldiers after their return to their homeland, where ideas were destroyed, moral foundations were shaken, and industry was destroyed.

In the same year, fearing persecution from the National Socialists, the writer was forced to leave Germany. He moved to Switzerland, buying a house in Porto Ronco, Lago Maggoire. Remarque's last work published before the outbreak of World War II was the novel "Three Comrades", published in 1938, first in America on English language and only then in Holland, in German. In the writer’s homeland by that time, his books (primarily, of course, “All Quiet on the Western Front”) were banned as “undermining the German spirit” and belittling the “heroics of the German soldier.” The Nazis deprived Remarque of German citizenship in 1938. He was forced to flee from Switzerland to France, and from there - through Mexico - to the United States of America. Here his life - in comparison with the life of many other German emigrants - proceeded quite well: high fees, all his books (in 1941 the novel “Love Thy Neighbor”, and in 1946 the famous “Arc de Triomphe”) certainly became bestsellers and were successfully filmed. During the difficult war years, Remarque helped, sometimes anonymously, many of his compatriots - cultural figures who, like him, were fleeing the Hitler regime, but they financial position it was depressing.

In Germany, meanwhile, Remarque's sister became a victim of the barbaric regime. Accused of making comments against Hitler and his regime, she was sentenced to death in 1943 and executed in Berlin. During the negotiations, the President of the People's Court, Freisler, is reputed to have said that "Your brother may have escaped us, but you will no longer escape it"

In 1968 the City of Osnabrück names a street after Elfriede Scholz.

Having again received German citizenship after the war, Remarque returned to Europe. Since 1947, he lived in Switzerland, where he spent most of the last 16 years of his life. The novels appear: "Spark of Life" (1952), a novel depicting the atrocities of the concentration camps, and "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" (1954), which depicts the German war against Soviet Union. In 1954, Remarque attends his father's funeral at Bed Rothenfelde near Osnabrück, but does not visit his hometown. Remarque could not overcome the bitterness of his expulsion from Germany: “As far as I know, not a single one of the mass murderers of the Third Reich was expelled. The emigrants are therefore even more humiliated.” (Interview 1966). The Black Obelisk appears in 1956. It partly analyzes the spiritual climate within hometown Remarque during the 1920s but also deals with the preconditions for the rise of fascism and attacks the moral and political reconstruction after the Second World War.

Remarque's only play, "The Last Stop", which was written in 1956. It was about the Russians who broke into Berlin and met there with SS soldiers and concentration camp prisoners. The premiere took place on September 20, 1956 in Berlin; Later the production was carried out in Munich. The success was not worldwide, but the play was taken seriously, and for him this was more important than the attitude of his other works, except for the resonance caused by the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. “Life on Borrow” was published in 1959. In the book “Night in Lisbon” (1961) he returned to the theme of emigration once again. Here the author makes an explicit reference to Osnabrück as the scene of the action. Shadows in Paradise becomes the last of Remarque's novels. It was published by Remarque's second wife Paulette Goddard in 1971 after his death.

In 1964, to celebrate Remarque's 65th birthday, the city of Osnabrück presented the author with his most prestigious award, the Moser Medal. Three years later (1967) the writer receives an OBE from the Federal Republic of Germany. He also became an honorary resident of the cities of Ascona and Porto Ronco.

On September 25th, 1970, Erich Maria Remarque died in a hospital in Locarno. After his death, his hometown names a street after Remarque.

There was, of course, another side to Remarque’s life - a scandalous one, connected primarily with his life in America. She is well known (and not only to passionate admirers of the writer’s work): long binges, affaire de Coeur with Marlene Dietrich - the writer’s emotional dependence on the film star was probably akin to a drug, affairs with young Hollywood actresses and, finally, marriage to Pollet Godard - ex Mrs Charlie Chaplin...

30 million copies of Remarque's books have been sold worldwide. The main reason for such unparalleled and unique success is that they deal with universal themes. These are themes of humanity, loneliness, courage and, as Remarque himself put it, “the happiness of short unity.” World events serve in his books only as a frame for action.

Despite the fact that Erich Maria Remarque has not been popular in Germany for a long time - he is remembered only as the author of “All Quiet on the Western Front”, here in Russia Remarque is still very popular. Since 1929, when the novel about Private Paul Bäumer was published in Russian, just a few months after publication in Germany itself, all of E.M. Remarque’s books have invariably enjoyed success in our country. Calculated: over 70 years of presence on the Russian literary scene total circulation books by E.M. Remarque in Russian exceeded 5 million copies!

Erich Maria Remarque (Remarque, Remark) (22.6.1898, Osnabrück, - 25.9.1970, Locarno, Switzerland), German writer. Participant in the First World War 1914-1918. After the war - teacher, commercial employee, reporter, editor. Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1929, Russian translation 1929) gained worldwide fame. Since 1932 he lived in exile (the fascist government deprived Remarque of German citizenship). In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” one of the most characteristic works of literature of the “lost generation,” he depicted everyday life at the front, which preserved for soldiers only elementary forms of solidarity that united them in the face of death. However, already in the novel “Return” (1931, Russian translation 1936), Remarque showed how after the war social inequality destroyed the illusory harmony of front-line brotherhood. Male friendship and love as the last refuge against hostile forces - the tragic concept of the novel “Three Comrades” (1938, Russian translation 1958). In the novel "Arc de Triomphe" (1946, Russian translation 1959), the anti-fascist theme was vividly embodied. After the novel “Spark of Life” (1952), the events of which take place in Hitler’s concentration camp, Remarque created in the novel “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” (1954, Russian translation 1956) a collective image of the “lost generation” of the period of World War II 1939-1945. In the novel “Black Obelisk” (1956, Russian translation 1961), the writer sought, in the light of the tragic experience of the past, to warn against the revival of the militaristic spirit in Germany. Later works Remarque's novels "Life on Borrow" (1959, Russian translation 1960), "Night in Lisbon" (1963, Russian translation 1965) are not free from fictional templates. Individualistic pacifism and the vagueness of the positive program constitute weak side Remarque's creativity. However, the social-critical merits of it best books, the humanity and moral charm of their heroes serve as the basis for Remarque’s success among readers.

Erich Maria Remarque (German: Erich Maria Remarque, June 22, 1898, Osnabrück - September 25, 1970, Locarno) is one of the most famous and widely read German writers of the twentieth century.

Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in Osnabrück, Germany, into a Catholic working-class family. He had French roots. Father, Peter Franz Remarque, was a bookbinder. He was fond of the works of Zweig, Thomas Mann, Dostoevsky, Proust and Goethe.

In 1904 he entered a church school, and in 1915 he entered a Catholic teachers' seminary.

In 1916, he was drafted into the army, and on June 17 he was sent to the Western Front. On July 31, 1917, he was wounded in the left leg. right hand and neck and spent the rest of the war in a military hospital in Germany. After the war, he worked as a librarian, correspondent, teacher, journalist, editor, and accountant.

In October 1925 he married Ilse Jutta Zambona, a former dancer. Jutta suffered from consumption for many years. She became the prototype for several heroines of Remarque’s works, including Pat (Patricia Holman) from “ Three comrades“The marriage lasted just over 4 years, after which they divorced. However, in 1938, Remarque married Jutta again - to help her get out of Germany and get the opportunity to live in Switzerland, where he himself lived at that time, and later they left for the USA together. The divorce was officially finalized only in 1957. The writer paid Yutta a monetary allowance until the end of his life, and also bequeathed 50 thousand dollars to her.

In 1929 he published his most famous work, All Quiet on the Western Front, under the pseudonym Erich Maria Remarque (he changed his middle name in honor of his mother, who died in 1918), describing the brutality of war from the point of view of a 19-year-old soldier. Several more anti-war writings followed; In simple, emotional language, they realistically described the war and the post-war period.

In 1933, the Nazis banned and burned Remarque's works, and announced (although this was a lie) that Remarque was supposedly a descendant of French Jews and his real name Kramer (the word Remarque spelled backwards). This “fact” is still cited in some biographies, despite the complete lack of any evidence to support it. Moreover, it will not be possible to read the surname this way, since it is written not Remark, but Remarque.

Remarque himself escaped Nazi persecution because he lived in Switzerland since 1933. His older sister, dressmaker Elfried Scholz, who remained in Germany, was arrested and executed for anti-war and anti-Hitler statements in 1943. 25 years later, a street in her hometown of Osnabrück was named after her.

In 1937, the writer met Marlene Dietrich, with whom he began a stormy and painful affair - the famous movie star was distinguished by extreme infidelity and despotism. The novel "Arc de Triomphe" is dedicated to this relationship.

In 1939, Remarque went to the United States, where in 1947 he received American citizenship.

In 1951, Remarque met Hollywood actress Paulette Goddard, ex-wife Charlie Chaplin, who helped him come to his senses after his relationship with Dietrich, cured him of depression and in general, as Remarque himself said, “had a positive effect on him.” Thanks to improved mental health, the writer was able to finish the novel “Spark of Life,” dedicated to the memory of his late sister Elfrida, and continue creative activity until the end of life. In 1957, Remarque finally divorced Jutta, and in 1958 he and Paulette got married. That same year, Remarque returned to Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life. They remained together with Paulette until his death (1970).

In 1964, a delegation from the writer’s hometown presented him with an honorary medal. Three years later, in 1967, the German ambassador to Switzerland presented him with the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (the irony is that despite these awards, his German citizenship was never returned to him). In 1968, on the occasion of the writer’s seventieth birthday, the city of Ascona (in which he lived) made him its honorary citizen.

Remarque died on September 25, 1970 at the age of 72 in the city of Locarno, and was buried in the Swiss Ronco cemetery in the canton of Ticino. Paulette Godard, who died twenty years later, is buried next to him.

The secret of the stunning success of Remarque’s works is, apparently, that they reflect values ​​that are important to every person: loneliness and courage, perseverance and humanity. The themes of his works included a biography of Remarque on their pages. Three tens of millions of his books have been sold worldwide.

Childhood and youth

The future writer was born in Prussia in 1898. As expected, he studied at school and then worked as a teacher. But the war began, and he was called to the front. He quickly received a serious wound in the thigh from shrapnel. Then he was in the hospital for a long time - until the end of October 1918. Remarque's biography will receive the first terrible page, in which an unforgettable trace of the war will be written for life.

After the war

Since 1918, Remarque has been working, changing various professions, and in 1920 his first novel was published. By 1925, he had already learned the basics of working as a professional writer. Remarque moves to Berlin and marries a young beauty suffering from tuberculosis. The girl's name is Jutta, but all her friends call her Zhanna. Her image would later appear in several of his novels. She is best known as Pat from Three Comrades. After living together for four years, they will divorce, and Zhanna will take the blame.

But they will re-marry so that she can leave Nazi Germany. They will no longer live as one family, but Remarque will help Jeanne financially for the rest of his life and will leave her a significant inheritance. He will carry his noble attitude towards a stranger’s woman throughout his life. This is how Remarque’s biography is connected with his first marriage.

A huge success

In 1929, a novel was published that would cause fierce controversy in Germany. It's called All Quiet on the Western Front. The images of war-torn boys who, sitting in the trenches, learned only one thing - to kill and die are stunning. They are not ready for a peaceful life. It will show him next piece"Return" (1931). The first book will be made into a film. From royalties for huge editions of books translated into different languages, and Remarque’s film will receive a decent fortune. In April 1932, the world-famous writer moved to Switzerland. There he is, free from material problems, writes “Three Comrades” (1936) and enthusiastically collects Post-Impressionist paintings. Remarque's biography is marked by international success.

Fatal year

In September 1937, two people will meet in Venice, the son of a bookbinder and the daughter of a policeman. The City of Masks gathered celebrities from all over the world for the film festival. At a cafe table, Remarque caught the interested look of a woman.

He knew her companion and approached the couple. The writer introduced himself to the lady: Remarque. After meeting him, his biography will be filled with a disastrous and divine feeling of half-divided love, feeding on the crumbs of love. By this time, the rich and famous Remarque was drinking himself to death. At the time of the meeting he was 39 years old. Women preferred to remain friends with the writer, warrior, rake and dandy. There was discord in my soul. The world was collapsing not only inside, but also outside. The Nazis burned all his books and deprived him of his citizenship.

Game of feelings

A few hours later, Marlene invited him to her room. They talked all night. Oddly enough, Marlene understood him perfectly. She, too, hated fascism with all her heart, just as she hated everything ugly, she, too, was left without a homeland. Circumstances required Dietrich to leave for the United States. Remarque lived only by letters.

I stopped drinking and counted the days until the meeting. They met five months later. Remarque began a new novel about love, him and Marlene. He did not yet know where the plot of Arc de Triomphe would lead him. But Marlene did not promise anything and thereby promised everything. Remarque locked himself in his room and worked on a novel. This was the only way he could avoid the obsessive attention of reporters, parties and, most importantly, Marlene’s shameless flirting.

Precisely flirting. He forbade himself to think about more. Ravik thought for Remarque in Arc de Triomphe. Marlene was an ordinary woman, but Remarque preferred to see her as a queen with her own quirks. He could easily leave an ordinary woman, but he could not leave the queen.

America

The world was also coming to an end. Everyone understood that war was close. Marlene insisted that Remarque move to the United States with her. He hoped to share not only holidays with Marlene, but also everyday life. Remarque proposed to Marlene. She refused. Remarque had the courage to go to a house near Los Angeles. He drowned his melancholy with wine and bombarded Marlene with new letters. Sometimes they met. Marlene swore that she loved him as best she could, but, more precisely, she allowed herself to be loved, and again it seemed to him that happiness was possible. He lived in a state of depression until he met Paulette Goddard in 1951.

In agony and mental anxiety there existed Erich Maria Remarque, whose biography suddenly took a happy turn.

New creative successes

After the publication of Arc de Triomphe he did not write for a long time. But he started working with Paulette again. In 1952, “Spark of Life” was published, a novel dedicated to a sister destroyed by the Nazis. In 1954, a new work, “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” was published. In 1956, in the novel “Black Obelisk,” Remarque described the real events of his youth. All this time Paulette Goddard is nearby. In this couple, Remarque allowed himself to be loved. Their wedding will take place in 1958, as will their return to Switzerland.

So in the fifties, Remarque’s biography took place on a creative upswing. Briefly speaking, the writer will create two more novels: “Life on Borrow” (1959) and “Night in Lisbon” (1963).

Homeland Awards

Germany appreciates having such an outstanding contemporary writer. The government even awards him an order, but, as if in mockery, does not return his citizenship. This forced recognition of merit does not inspire respect. Living in Switzerland, Erich Maria Remarque, whose short biography spanned seventy-two years, is already more worried about his health under the supervision of his wife. When he dies quietly of a heart attack in a Swiss hospital, Marlene Dietrich will send roses to his funeral. But Paulette will forbid putting them on the coffin.

Today in Germany he is only respected, but in Russia he is still popular. His books have a circulation of approximately five million copies. Such is the biography and work of Remarque. In our country he is loved and read.

Erich Maria Remarque(received the name at birth Erich Paul Remarque) - German writer, one of the most famous and popular national writers of the twentieth century. Born in Saxony, in Osnabrück, June 22, 1898; his father was a bookbinder, and in total there were 5 children in their family. Since 1904, Remarque has been a student at a church school, and since 1915 at a Catholic teachers' seminary. In his young years, Remarque was especially interested in the work of such writers as F. Dostoevsky, Goethe, M. Proust, T. Mann.

In 1916, after graduating from high school, he went to the front as a conscript in the active army, where he spent two years. In June 1817, Remarque found himself on the Western Front, in July he was wounded, and for the rest of the war he was treated in a German military hospital. After his mother died in 1918, he changed his middle name in memory of her.

In the years after the war, Erich Maria Remarque tried the most different types Activities: was a teacher, sold tombstones, worked as an organist in a chapel on weekends, an accountant, a librarian, a reporter. In 1921, he became editor of the Echo Continental magazine. One of his letters indicates that at this time he was taken literary pseudonym Erich Maria Remarque with a slightly different spelling of the surname from the original.

From the end of autumn 1927 to the end of winter 1928, the novel “Station on the Horizon” was published in parts in the magazine Sport im Bild, where he was an editorial staff member at that time. However, real fame, and immediately on a global level, came to the writer after the publication in 1929 of the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” in which the events of wartime, its cruelty, and unpleasant aspects are described through the eyes of a young soldier. In 1930, a film was made based on this novel, which allowed Remarque, along with the income from the book, to become a fairly wealthy man. It is known that he spent quite a lot of money on purchasing paintings by famous painters. In 1931, with his novel, Remarque was nominated for the Nobel Prize, but the committee did not accept his candidacy.

In 1932, the writer moved to France, and later to the USA. The Nazis who came to power imposed a ban on Remarque’s works and pointedly set them on fire. After this, living in Germany became impossible for Erich Maria. The older sister who remained in her homeland was arrested and executed for anti-fascist statements; There is evidence that at the trial, regret was expressed about the impossibility of subjecting her brother to the same punishment. The writer dedicated the novel “Spark of Life,” written in 1952, to his deceased sister.

Since 1939, Remarque lived in America, and since 1947 he had the status of a US citizen. During this period of creative activity they wrote famous novels“Three Comrades” (1938), “Arc de Triomphe” (1946). For some time, Remarque was depressed; he had a period of creative downtime associated with a dramatic novel that appeared in his life after meeting Marlene Dietrich. A meeting in 1951 with the actress Paulette Godard inspired new strength in Remarque and allowed him to return to literary activity, which did not stop until the end of his life. So, in 1956, he wrote the novels “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” and “Black Obelisk,” which in one way or another touch on the theme of World War II. In 1958, Remarque married Godard, who remained his companion until her death. From that same year, his biography was connected with Switzerland, where he found his final refuge.

The famous countryman was not forgotten in his homeland. In 1964, he received a medal of honor from a delegation from his hometown. In 1967, the German ambassador to Switzerland awarded him the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany, although Remarque remained without German citizenship. Remarque remained faithful to the principles of truthful reporting of events and humanity in his latest works: these were the novels “Life on Borrow” (1959) and “Night in Lisbon” (1963). 72-year-old Erich Maria Remarque died in Locarno, Switzerland in September 1970; He was buried in the canton of Ticino, in the Ronco cemetery.

Biography from Wikipedia

Erich Maria Remarque(German: Erich Maria Remarque, born Erich Paul Remarque, Erich Paul Remark; June 22, 1898, Osnabrück - September 25, 1970, Locarno) - German writer of the 20th century, representative of the “lost generation”. His novel All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the big three “Lost Generation” novels published in 1929, along with A Farewell to Arms! Ernest Hemingway and "Death of a Hero" by Richard Aldington.

Erich Paul Remarque was the second of five children of bookbinder Peter Franz Remarque (1867-1954) and Anna Maria Remarque, née Stahlknecht (1871-1917). In his youth, Remarque was fond of the works of Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marcel Proust and Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In 1904 he entered a church school, and in 1915 he entered a Catholic teachers' seminary.

On November 21, 1916, Remarque was drafted into the army, and on June 17, 1917, he was sent to the Western Front. On July 31, 1917, he was wounded in the left leg, right arm, and neck. He spent the rest of the war in a military hospital in Germany.

After the death of his mother, in her honor, Remarque changed his middle name to Maria. Since 1919, he first worked as a teacher. At the end of 1920, he changed many professions, including working as a seller of tombstones and a Sunday organist in a chapel at a hospital for the mentally ill. The impressions of this period of life subsequently formed the basis of the writer’s novel “The Black Obelisk.”

In 1921 he began working as an editor in a magazine. Echo Continental. At the same time, as evidenced by one of his letters, he took a pseudonym Erich Maria Remarque, written according to the rules of French spelling - which is a hint at the Huguenot origins of the family.

In October 1925, Remarque married Ilse Jutta Zambona, a former dancer. Jutta suffered from consumption for many years. She became the prototype for several heroines of the writer’s works, including Pat from the novel "Three Comrades". The marriage lasted a little more four years, after which the couple divorced. In 1938, Remarque married Jutta again - to help her get out of Germany and get the opportunity to live in Switzerland, where he himself lived at that time. Later they left for the USA together. The divorce was officially finalized only in 1957. Remarque paid Yutta a monetary allowance until the end of his life, and also bequeathed 50 thousand dollars to her.

From November 1927 to February 1928, his novel Station on the horizon» published in the magazine Sport im Bild, where the writer worked at that time.

In 1929, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front was published, describing the brutality of the war from the point of view of a 20-year-old soldier. This was followed by several more anti-war works: in simple and emotional language they realistically described the war and the post-war period.

Based on the novel " "A film of the same name was made and released in 1930. The profits from the film and book allowed Remarque to earn a decent fortune, a significant part of which he spent on buying paintings by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Renoir. For this novel he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1931, but when considering the application, the Nobel Committee rejected this proposal. The German Officers' Union protested the nomination, arguing that the novel was an insult to the German army.

In 1932, Remarque left Germany and settled in Switzerland. In 1933, the Nazis banned, and students burned his works, chanting the chant “No - to the scribblers who betray the heroes of the World War. Long live the education of youth in the spirit of true historicism! I commit to the fire the works of Erich Maria Remarque.".

There is a legend that the Nazis declared: Remarque is a descendant of French Jews and his real name is Kramer(the word “Remarque” is backwards). This “fact” is still cited in some biographies, despite the complete lack of any evidence to support it. According to data obtained from the Writer's Museum in Osnabrück, German origin and Remarque's Catholic religion was never in doubt. The propaganda campaign against Remarque was based on his changing the spelling of his last name from Remark on Remarque. This fact was used to make statements: a person who changes German spelling to French cannot be a real German.

In 1937, Remarque met famous actress Marlene Dietrich, with whom he began a stormy and painful affair. Many consider Dietrich to be the prototype Joan Madu- the heroine of the writer’s novel “Arc de Triomphe”.

In 1939, Remarque went to the United States, where in 1947 he received American citizenship.

His younger sister Elfriede Scholz, who remained in Germany, was arrested in 1943 for anti-war and anti-Hitler statements. At the trial she was found guilty and on December 30, 1943 she was guillotined. Big sister Erne Remarque an invoice was sent to pay for Elfrida's detention in prison, the trial and the execution itself, in the amount of 495 marks and 80 pfennigs, which was required to be transferred to the appropriate account within a week. There is evidence that the judge told her: “ Your brother, unfortunately, escaped from us, but you cannot escape" Remarque learned about the death of his sister only after the war and dedicated his novel “Spark of Life,” published in 1952, to her. 25 years later, a street in her hometown of Osnabrück was named after Remarque’s sister.

In 1951, Remarque met Hollywood actress Paulette Goddard (1910-1990), Charlie Chaplin’s ex-wife, who helped him recover after his breakup with Dietrich, cured him of depression and, as Remarque himself said, “ had a positive effect on him" Thanks to improved mental health, the writer was able to finish the novel “ Spark of life"and continue his creative activity until the end of his days. The novel "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" is dedicated to Paulette. She made him happy, but he still could not completely free himself from his previous complexes. Remarque tried to suppress his feelings and continued to drink. He wrote in his diary that, being sober, he could not communicate with people and even with himself.

In 1957, Remarque finally divorced Jutta, and in 1958 he married Paulette. That same year, Remarque returned to Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life. He remained with Paulette until his death.

In 1958, Remarque played the cameo role of Professor Pohlman in the American film “A Time to Love and a Time to Die” by own novel"A time to live and a time to die."

In 1963, Remarque had a stroke. Paulette was in Rome at that time: she was filming a film based on the book “Indifferent” by Alberto Moravia. Remarque managed to overcome the disease. In 1964, a delegation from the writer’s hometown presented him with an honorary medal. Three years later, in 1967, the German ambassador to Switzerland presented him with the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (but, despite these awards, the writer was never returned to German citizenship).

Remarque's health was deteriorating, and in 1967, at the ceremony of awarding the German Order, he had another heart attack.

In 1968, on the occasion of the writer’s 70th birthday, the Swiss city of Ascona, where he lived, made him its honorary citizen.

He and Paulette spent the last two winters of Remarque’s life in Rome. After another cardiac arrest, in the summer of 1970, Remarque was admitted to a hospital in Locarno.

Erich Maria Remarque died on September 25, 1970, at the age of 73. The writer is buried in the Swiss cemetery "Ronco" in the canton of Ticino. Paulette Goddard, who died twenty years later, on April 23, 1990, is buried next to him.

Remarque bequeathed $50 thousand each to Ilsa Jutta, his sister, as well as the housekeeper who took care of him for many years in Ascona.

Remarque belongs to the writers of the “lost generation”. This is a group of “angry young men” who went through the horrors of the First World War (and saw the post-war world not at all as it was seen from the trenches) and wrote their first books that shocked the Western public. Such writers, along with Remarque, included Richard Aldington, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Selected bibliography

Novels

• The Shelter of Dreams (translation option - “The Attic of Dreams”) (German: Die Traumbude) (1920)
• Gam (German: Gam) (1924) (published posthumously in 1998)
• Station on the Horizon (German: Station am Horizont) (1927)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues) (1929)
• Return (German: Der Weg zurück) (1931)
• Three Comrades (German: Drei Kameraden) (1936)
• Love Thy Neighbor (German: Liebe Deinen Nächsten) (1941)
• Arc de Triomphe (German: Arc de Triomphe) (1945)
• Spark of Life (German: Der Funke Leben) (1952)
• A Time to Live and a Time to Die (German: Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben) (1954)
• The Black Obelisk (German: Der schwarze Obelisk) (1956)
• Life on Borrow (1959):
  • German Geborgtes leben - magazine version;
  • German Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge ("There are no chosen ones for heaven") - full version
• Night in Lisbon (German: Die Nacht von Lisbon) (1962)
• Shadows in Paradise (German: Schatten im Paradies) (published posthumously in 1971. This is an abridged and revised version of the novel "The Promised Land" by Droemer Knaur.)
• The Promised Land (German: Das gelobte Land) (published posthumously in 1998. The novel remained unfinished.)

Stories

Collection “Anneta’s Love Story” (German: Ein militant Pazifist):

• The Enemy (German: Der Feind) (1930-1931)
• Silence around Verdun (German: Schweigen um Verdun) (1930)
• Karl Broeger in Fleury (German: Karl Broeger in Fleury) (1930)
• Josef's Wife (German: Josefs Frau) (1931)
• Annette's Love Story (German: Die Geschichte von Annettes Liebe) (1931)
• The Strange Fate of Johann Bartok (German: Das seltsame Schicksal des Johann Bartok) (1931)

Other

• The Last Act (German: Der letzte Akt) (1955), play
• The Last Stop (German: Die letzte Station) (1956), film script
• Be carefull!! (German: Seid wachsam!!) (1956)
• Episodes at the Desk (German: Das unbekannte Werk) (1998)
• Tell me that you love me... (German: Sag mir, dass du mich liebst...) (2001)

Data

• As of mid-2009, Remarque's works have been filmed 19 times. Of these, most " No change on the Western Front- three times. Remarque also advised the authors of the script for the military epic “The Longest Day,” which tells about the landing of Allied troops in Normandy.
• The phrase “One death is a tragedy, thousands of deaths are statistics,” erroneously attributed to Stalin, is actually taken out of the context of the novel “ Black obelisk“, but the writer, in turn, according to some sources, borrowed it from the publicist of the Weimar Republic, Tucholsky. The full quote looks like this: “ It’s strange, I think, how many people were killed during the war - everyone knows that two million died without meaning or benefit - so why now are we so excited about one death, but have almost forgotten about those two million? But apparently it always happens: the death of one person is a tragedy, and the death of two million is just statistics».

Erich Paul Remarque is an outstanding German writer. At the age of 18, he was forced to go to the front, as a result of which he was able to see with his own eyes all the horrors of war.

All these impressions will form the basis of his works, and he himself will become one of the few major writers who will go through the war and be able to capture it in his works.

There are many unusual and exciting events in Erich Remarque. We will tell you about all of them right now.

So, in front of you short biography of Erich Remarque.

Biography of Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in the German Empire in the city of Osnabrück. He grew up in the educated family of bookbinder Peter Franz and Anna Stahlknecht.

In addition to Erich, four more children were born into the Remarque family. WITH early years the boy read with interest the works of Zweig, Mann and Proust.

Childhood and youth

When Erich was 6 years old, he was sent to a church school. He then continued his studies at public school, after which he entered the Catholic Teachers' Seminary. At this time he dreamed of becoming a teacher.

Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918), he successfully passed the exams at the Royal Seminary of Osnabrück, but a year later Remarque was called up for service.

While participating in serious battles, he received 5 wounds. The future writer spent the rest of the war in hospitals healing his wounds.

After returning from the front, Remarque was a completely different person.

Arriving home, he started writing activity, and also became interested in playing musical instruments.

At the beginning of his writing career, Remarque had to work in a variety of places, since his creative passion could not yet feed him.

He worked as a teacher, accountant, musician and even a tombstone salesman.

At the age of 24, Erich Remarque went to Hannover, where he got a job at the Echo Continental publishing house.

In 1926 comes crucial moment V creative biography Remark. One of the reputable publications agreed to publish his novels “The Woman with Golden Eyes” and “From the Times of Youth.”

After their release, young Remarque received many praises from critics and ordinary readers. From that moment on, he began to seriously engage in writing.

Works by Remarque

In 1929, Remarque published a new novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, in which he masterfully described military events through the eyes of a 19-year-old boy.

He managed to convey the main character in colors. The book became so popular that it was translated into 36 languages. Later, a film was made based on it.

New novels by Erich Maria Remarque will appear soon: “Three Comrades” and “The Return”. These books also describe the horrors of war.

The works were received good feedback from critics and have been translated into many languages.

During the biography period 1941-1945. Erich publishes 2 novels: “Love Thy Neighbor” and “Arc de Triomphe.”

In 1950, he began writing the novels “The Promised Land” and “The Black Obelisk.” After this, his anti-war work “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” was published, which raised many serious questions.

In addition, he wrote several stories and plays, including “Joseph's Wife”, “The Last Act”, “The Enemy”, “Be Alert” and others.

Personal life

In 1925, Erich Maria Remarque found himself in Berlin, where the daughter of the owner of an elite magazine fell in love with him. However, the girl’s parents did not allow them to get married, although at that time the writer worked as an editor.

After this, he met Ilse Jutta Zambone, who was a dancer. Soon their friendship grew into serious relationship, as a result of which they decided to get married. However, their marriage lasted only 4 years.

In 1933, shortly before coming to power, Remarque urgently left on the advice of his friend. He went to Switzerland in his car without taking any belongings with him.

A few years after his departure, the Nazis publicly burned his book All Quiet on the Western Front, and the writer himself was deprived of German citizenship.

In 1938, Remarque entered into a fictitious marriage with his ex-wife so that she could live in Switzerland. An interesting fact is that this marriage was dissolved only after 19 years.

After some time, the writer fell madly in love with famous actress Marlene Dietrich, who, like him, was forced to leave Germany.

However, after Remarque started dating her, he had to face all sorts of problems. The fact is that Dietrich turned out to be bisexual, which Erich found out a little later.

Despite this, he invited Marlene to become his wife and start life with clean slate. After that, he learned that his beloved had recently become pregnant by an actor with whom she worked on the same page. film set, and had an abortion.

When Dietrich learned that Remarque owned a fairly large collection of paintings, she demanded to give her one of them. Gradually the requests grew into continuous demands and humiliation.

Ultimately, Remarque still found the strength to refuse her.

It is worth saying that Erich Maria Remarque enjoyed great success with various Hollywood actresses. However, he did not like Hollywood itself, since the people who lived in it seemed proud and unreal to Remarque.

Soon he decides to move to New York. In 1945, he began working on the novel “Spark of Life,” which he dedicated to his deceased sister.

This book was the first in his biography, which described events that he himself had not experienced. It was about Nazi concentration camps.

In 1951, Erich Maria Remarque met actress Paulette Goddard, with whom he soon fell in love. Deciding to propose to her, the writer officially divorced Jutta, with whom he had not lived for a long time.

I wonder what he listed ex-wife$25,000, and also paid her $800 every month.

In 1958, Remarque and Goddard became husband and wife.

Death

IN last years During his lifetime, Erich Remarque and Paulette often vacationed in Rome. In 1970 he began to have serious problems with a heart, as a result of which the writer was admitted to the hospital.

However, soon the heart could not withstand the stress and stopped.

Erich Maria Remarque died on September 25, 1970 in the Swiss city of Lacorno at the age of 72. Official reason his death was an aortic aneurysm. Remarque was buried in the Ronco cemetery.

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