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Erich Maria Remarque
(1898-1970)
Remarque is one of the most popular and most widely-read authors of German
literature in the 20th century. His works
have been translated in more than 50 languages.
Erich Maria Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in Osnabrueck, Germany,
where the Erich
Maria Remarque Gesellschaft was afterwards founded. He was born as
Erich Paul Remark, or, as some sources insist, as Erich
Paul Kramer. Later, in 1929, he changed his middle name to Maria,
his mother's middle name, and his surname to Remarque - family name Kramer
spelled backwards. The difficult financial situation in Remarque's family
caused his early work. As a teenager he began giving piano lessons to
earn money to buy nice clothes. Remarque had luxurious tastes throughout
his life. Raised as a Roman Catholic, he developed a love for the beauty
of churches and the deep sense of the religious rituals. He admired music
and nature, which he believed to be true representations of peace and
beauty.
In 1916, Remarque, a third-year student at a teachers' training college,
was drafted into the German army. He served on the Western front and was
several times wounded. Profoundly changed by the war, Remarque returned
to the college after the peace was resumed in 1918, but the civilian life
seemed almost unreal and ridiculous after what he and his friends experienced
during the war. Before choosing the career of a writer, Remarque tried
a series of jobs from stonecutter and a test-cardriver to sports journalist.
Nothing seemed to appeal to him.
Next page > Remarque
in Post-War Years
Picture of Erich Maria Remarque courtesy of Erich Maria Remarque-Center
Osnabruck.
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