Greetings my dear readers! In the article “Erich Maria Remarque: biography,” interesting facts"—the main stages in the life of the outstanding German writer.
One of the popular writers of the German Empire of the twentieth century is undoubtedly Remarque. He represented " lost generation“- a period when, at the age of eighteen, very young boys were called up to the front, and they were forced to kill. This time later became the main motive and idea of the writer’s work.
Biography of Remarque
In the city of Osnabrück of the German Empire on June 22 (zodiac sign - Cancer) 1898 in large family The future literary genius Erich Paul Remarque was born.
His father worked as a bookbinder, so their house was always filled with a lot of books. WITH early years little Erich was fond of literature and read with enthusiasm a lot and often. He was especially attracted to the works of Goethe and Marcel Proust.
As a child, he was interested in music, loved to draw, and collected butterflies, stones and stamps. The relationship with my father was complicated; they had different views on life. With his mother everything was different - he doted on her. When Erich Paul was nineteen years old, she died of cancer.
Erich took the loss seriously. This tragedy prompted him to change his name Paul to Maria (that was his mother's name).
Erich Maria studied at a church school (1904). Upon graduation, he entered the Catholic seminary (1912), followed by years of study at the Royal Teachers' Seminary.
Here the writer becomes a member of one of literary circles, where he finds friends and like-minded people. In 1916 Remarque went to the front. A year later, he was wounded five times, and the rest of the time he was in the hospital.
The beginning of creativity
In his father's house, Erich equipped a small office where he studied music, drew and wrote. It was here in 1920 that his first work, “Shelter of Dreams,” was written. For a year he worked as a teacher in Lona, but later abandoned this profession.
He had many jobs in his city before he started making money as a writer. Erich worked part-time as an accountant, taught piano, worked as an organist in a chapel, and was even a seller of tombstones.
In 1922 he left Osnabrück and went to Hanover, and began work here for the magazine Echo Continental. He wrote slogans, PR texts and various articles. Remarque was also published in other magazines.
Working for the magazine Sport im Bild opened the door for him to literary world. In 1925 he went to Berlin and began working as an illustration editor for this magazine. His novel “Station on the Horizon” is published here.
In 1926, one of the magazines published his novels “From Youthful Times” and “The Woman with Golden Eyes.” This was the beginning of it creative path. From that moment on, he did not stop writing, creating new masterpieces.
Literary career
In 1929, the novel “On Western Front no change." Remarque in it described all the horror and ruthlessness of the war through the eyes of a nineteen-year-old boy. The work was translated into thirty-six languages, it was published forty times.
In Germany, the book created a sensation. More than one million copies of it were sold in just one year.
In 1930, for this book, he was nominated to receive Nobel Prize. However, German officers were against this, because they believed that this work insulted their army. Therefore, the proposal for the award was rejected by the committee.
During the same period, a film was made based on the novel. This allowed the writer to get rich, and he began to buy paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh and other artists. In 1932 he left Germany and settled in Switzerland.
In 1936, another work of the writer was published, which became popular - “Three Comrades”. It was published in Danish and English languages. A film was made based on the novel “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” in which Erich plays in one of the episodes. In 1967, for his services, the writer was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Meser Medal.
Remarque: personal life
The first wife, Ilsa Jutta Zambona, was a dancer. They cheated on each other, so their marriage lasted only four years. In 1937, Remarque began a passionate affair with popular actress
Marlene Dietrich and Erich Maria Remarque
She helped the writer obtain an American visa, and he went to Hollywood. Here his life was quite bohemian. Lots of money, alcohol and different women, among which was
Paulette Goddard and Erich Maria Remarque
In 1957, he married actress Paulette Goddard, Charlie Chaplin's ex-wife, with whom he remained until his death. She had a positive effect on her husband, helped restore strength and get rid of depression. Thanks to Paulette, he was able to continue his writing career. In total, he wrote 15 novels, 6 stories, a play, and a film script.
The literary genius died at the age of seventy-three in 1970 in Switzerland, where he was buried. Paulette, who died twenty years later, rests next to him.
Erich Maria Remarque: biography (video)
Greetings my dear readers! The article “Erich Maria Remarque: biography, interesting facts” describes the main stages of the life of the outstanding German writer.
One of the popular writers of the German Empire of the twentieth century is undoubtedly Remarque. He represented the “lost generation” - a period when, at the age of eighteen, very young boys were drafted to the front, and they were forced to kill. This time later became the main motive and idea of the writer’s work.
Biography of Remarque
In the city of Osnabrück of the German Empire, on June 22 (zodiac sign – Cancer), 1898, the future literary genius, Erich Paul Remarque, was born into a large family.
His father worked as a bookbinder, so their house was always filled with a lot of books. From an early age, little Erich was interested in literature and read with enthusiasm a lot and often. He was especially attracted to the works of Goethe and Marcel Proust.
As a child, he was interested in music, loved to draw, and collected butterflies, stones and stamps. The relationship with my father was complicated; they had different views on life. With his mother everything was different - he doted on her. When Erich Paul was nineteen years old, she died of cancer.
Erich took the loss seriously. This tragedy prompted him to change his name Paul to Maria (that was his mother's name).
Erich Maria studied at a church school (1904). Upon graduation, he entered the Catholic seminary (1912), followed by years of study at the Royal Teachers' Seminary.
Here the writer becomes a member of one of the literary circles, where he finds friends and like-minded people. In 1916 Remarque went to the front. A year later, he was wounded five times, and the rest of the time he was in the hospital.
The beginning of creativity
In his father's house, Erich equipped a small office where he studied music, drew and wrote. It was here in 1920 that his first work, “Shelter of Dreams,” was written. For a year he worked as a teacher in Lona, but later abandoned this profession.
He had many jobs in his city before he started making money as a writer. Erich worked part-time as an accountant, taught piano, worked as an organist in a chapel, and was even a seller of tombstones.
In 1922 he left Osnabrück and went to Hanover, and began work here for the magazine Echo Continental. He wrote slogans, PR texts and various articles. Remarque was also published in other magazines.
Working for the magazine Sport im Bild opened the door to the literary world for him. In 1925 he went to Berlin and began working as an illustration editor for this magazine. His novel “Station on the Horizon” is published here.
In 1926, one of the magazines published his novels “From Youthful Times” and “The Woman with Golden Eyes.” This was the beginning of his creative path. From that moment on, he did not stop writing, creating new masterpieces.
Literary career
In 1929, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front was published. Remarque in it described all the horror and ruthlessness of the war through the eyes of a nineteen-year-old boy. The work was translated into thirty-six languages, it was published forty times.
In Germany, the book created a sensation. More than one million copies of it were sold in just one year.
In 1930, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for this book. However, German officers were against this, as they believed that this work insulted their army. Therefore, the proposal for the award was rejected by the committee.
During the same period, a film was made based on the novel. This allowed the writer to get rich, and he began to buy paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh and other artists. In 1932 he left Germany and settled in Switzerland.
In 1936, another work of the writer was published, which became popular - “Three Comrades”. It was published in Danish and English. A film was made based on the novel “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” in which Erich plays in one of the episodes. In 1967, for his services, the writer was awarded the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Meser Medal.
Remarque: personal life
The first wife, Ilsa Jutta Zambona, was a dancer. They cheated on each other, so their marriage lasted only four years. In 1937, Remarque began a passionate affair with a popular actress
Marlene Dietrich and Erich Maria Remarque
She helped the writer obtain an American visa, and he went to Hollywood. Here his life was quite bohemian. A lot of money, alcohol and various women, including
Paulette Goddard and Erich Maria Remarque
In 1957, he married actress Paulette Goddard, Charlie Chaplin's ex-wife, with whom he remained until his death. She had a positive effect on her husband, helped restore strength and get rid of depression. Thanks to Paulette, he was able to continue his writing career. In total, he wrote 15 novels, 6 stories, a play, and a film script.
The literary genius died at the age of seventy-three in 1970 in Switzerland, where he was buried. Paulette, who died twenty years later, rests next to him.
Erich Maria Remarque: biography (video)
Erich Paul Remarque was born on a hot day on June 22, 1898, in the city of Osnabrück, which at that time was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. French surname He inherited the remarque from his great-grandfather, a native Frenchman who married a German woman. The father of the future writer, Peter Franz, also married the German beauty Anna-Maria Stahlknecht, who was 4 years younger than him. The father of the family made his living by binding books, of which there were in the house huge amount. From his youth, Erich Paul was inspired by the works of greatest writers such as Dostoevsky, Goethe, Mann and others.
There were five children in the Remarque family, Erich Paul was the second oldest. In 1901, a misfortune happened: the eldest, Theodore Arthur, who had been in poor health since birth, died.
The boy had a difficult relationship with his father, but his mother to a greater extent gave everything free time sickly Theodore, and later newborn children. Erich Paul most often spent his time surrounded by books.
Military training and service
Erich went to school at the age of 6. After studying for 4 years at public school, in 1908 he moved to school in Johannischul, after which he continued his studies. He wanted to become a teacher, and therefore chose to first go to the Catholic seminary (1912-1915), and then the royal one. While studying at the latter, Remarque finally fell in love with literary activity. He made many friends and acquaintances, among whom were Fritz Hörstemeier, Erica Hause, Bernhard Nobbe and others.
In June 1916, the world saw Remarque's first small publication, and at the end of November of the same year, the young man was called up for military service. While serving on the Western Front, where he was sent in June 1917, he received three serious wounds: an exploding shell hit his arm, leg, and - worst of all - his neck. Remarque's treatment and recovery took place in the hospitals of Torhout and Duisburg. He never returned to the front - even before his discharge, the young man was transferred to the office.
This period was quite difficult in Remarque's life. Having barely begun to recover from severe wounds, he lost his mother, who died of cancer (September, 1917), and in early March 1918, he also lost his close friend, Fritz Hörstermeyer. Erich, who had the most tender feelings for his mother, could not come to terms with the loss for a long time, and therefore almost immediately after her death he changed his middle name to the middle name of his parent.
At the end of October, Remarque finally got back on his feet - he was discharged from the hospital and transferred to his native Osnabrück, where the council of workers and soldiers of the city decided to award him the Iron Cross, First Class. However, Erich - now Maria - refused the reward. Moreover, he left the army and returned to the seminary, deciding to finish what he started.
Teaching activity and first steps in literature
In 1919, Erich Maria Remarque, having received the coveted teaching qualification, took his first job as a teacher. In 1920, the writer’s first novel, “Attic of Dreams” (“Shelter of Dreams”), was presented to the general public. The creation was written by him in his father’s house, where the young man set up an office for himself, in which he devoted himself entirely to creativity: he wrote, played music, and drew. The novel was published by one of the Dresden publishing houses, and Remarque himself, for unknown reasons ashamed of this creation, even tried to buy up the remainder of the circulation.
As for her teaching career, it was relatively short-lived. Remarque often changed jobs, the management openly disliked him, and he himself did not feel needed in all this. However, it was necessary to live for something, and before coming to writing, Erich Maria tried himself as a tombstone dealer, piano teacher, accountant and more. But everything was wrong!
Journalism
Around March 1921, Remarque began to try his luck in the journalistic field. The first publications in which he acted as a theater critic were the publications “Osnabrücker Landeszeitung” and “Osnabrücker Tageblatt”, at the same time he began to collaborate with the publication “Echo Continental”, where he first used the pseudonym Erich Maria Remarque, written in French. In April 1922, the writer moved to Hanover, where he easily joined bohemian society: women, alcohol, social events - all this became an integral part of his life. At the same time, the writer began active work on the novel “Gam”, while at the same time heading the editorial office of Echo Continental.
In 1924, Remarque met the daughter of one influential person in the publishing world. A girl named Edith was the heiress of Kurt Dierry, the founder and owner of the rather popular publication “Sports in Illustrations”. The relationship with the young lady did not last long - the girl’s parents were against their marriage, but to become the editor of her father’s publication young man still succeeded. A few years later, in the middle of the 28th, Remarque became “at the helm” of the publication - now he was personally responsible for all publications that appeared on printed pages. At the same time, he received several refusals from publishers who did not want to publish All Quiet on the Western Front, who openly said that hardly anyone would want to read about the German war. Luck nevertheless smiled on him in the person of the head of the Ulstein publishing house. However, a condition was immediately set: if the novel “fails,” the author will have to pay all the costs.
However, everyone was worried in vain - the novel became a real sensation. Released initially in a newspaper version (1928), and later in a book version (1929), it sold a record number of one and a half million copies in just a year! In the same year, on the initiative of Bjornsjern Bjorns, Erich Maria Remarque was nominated for the Nobel Prize. In total, the novel was published 43 times, translated into 36 languages, and in 1935 it was filmed.
From that time on, Remarque's name was heard, and not always in a positive way. Hitler himself called the writer a “French Jew,” and the Berlin Supervisory Film Commission banned his story “The Enemy.” In 1931, Remarque was again nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. This time the protest was expressed by the League of German Officers.
In 1931, the novel “The Return,” previously published in a newspaper version, was presented in Berlin.
Emigration
In 1932, Remarque fell out of favor with the German authorities, who confiscated the writer's bank savings in the amount of 20 thousand Reichsmarks. He moves to Porto Ronco, and meanwhile the proceedings in his case continue. The result is a fine “for illegal currency transactions” in the amount of 30 thousand Reichsmarks, which he pays. Remarque is actively working on the novel “Pat” (Three Comrades), and in Germany his books are already listed as banned. He is depressed and depressed: he drinks a lot, does not communicate with anyone. The choice of Hitler by the German people completely depresses them.
Later, in 1935, Remarque received an offer from the German government to return to his homeland, which he refused without hesitation.
In 1939, the writer left for the USA, where after 8 years he received citizenship. Remarque returned to his second homeland - Switzerland - only in 1958. Here he lives until the end of his days.
Personal life
The writer's first and only official wife was Ilse Jutta (Jeanne) Zambona, whom they married in 1925. The girl became the prototype for some of Remarque's characters. The family idyll lasted a little more than 4 years - the couple, who constantly cheated on each other, divorced in 1930. But this did not stop Erich from taking his ex-wife with him when moving to Switzerland.
However fateful meeting just before the writer. In 1936, on the Venetian coast, he meets Marlene Dietrich, and passion instantly flares up between the young people. Even remarriage to Ilse Jutta does not interfere with the development of their relationship. Dietrich contributed greatly to Remarque’s move to the United States, including obtaining a visa. The writer is popular in the States, especially among women, which brings the moment of separation between him and Marlene closer.
The writer's last love was another actress, this time Paulette Godard. He met her already at a respectable age - at 53 years old, and for the sake of marriage with the beauty he even finally divorced Jutta, not stinting on huge financial compensation. Paulette was next to Remarque until his last breath, until the writer’s heart stopped in 1970.
- In 1967, after the persecution of the writer was over, the German ambassador to Switzerland awarded Remarque the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany, but the citizenship, which he had previously been deprived of, was never returned.
- The writer also tried himself as an actor - he played a small role in the film “A Time to Love and a Time to Die,” which was an adaptation of his own novel “A Time to Live and a Time to Die.”
- Marlene Dietrich sent to the writer's funeral beautiful bouquet roses, but Paulette refused to accept them and place them on the coffin - the feelings of both women were too strong even after Remarque’s death.
- There is a version that Hitler and Remarque met during the war, and perhaps even knew each other. The basis for such judgments is a photo of young Adolf surrounded by two other guys in military uniform. One of them looks like Remarque. There is no more reliable evidence.
- It is believed that it was Dietrich who served as the inspiration for the image of Joan Madu, the heroine of the Arc de Triomphe.
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. TO peaceful life they are not ready. His next work, The Return (1931), will show this. 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, free from material problems, he wrote “Three Comrades” (1936) and enthusiastically collected paintings by post-impressionists. 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 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, the writer will create two more novels: “A Borrowed Life” (1959) and “A Night in Lisbon” (1963).
Homeland Awards
Germany appreciates having such an outstanding modern 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, short biography which she turned over for seventy-two years, is already more worried about her health under the supervision of her 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.
Name: Erich Maria Remarque
Age: 72 years old
Activity: writer
Marital status: was married
Erich Maria Remarque: biography
One of the popular writers of the German Empire of the twentieth century is Erich Maria Remarque. The publicist, whose statements became immortal, represented the “lost generation” - a period when, at the age of eighteen, very young guys were drafted to the front, and they were forced to kill. This time later became the main motive and idea of the writer’s work.
Childhood and youth
Erich Maria Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in the city of Osnabrück (German Empire). The writer's father worked as a bookbinder, so the house of the future publicist was always full of a large number of books. From an early age, little Erich was interested in literature. Especially young genius attracted creativity, and.
From the biography of the literary genius it is known that in childhood Remarque was also interested in music, loved to draw, and collected butterflies, stones and stamps. Relations with my father were strained due to different views on life. When Erich was nineteen years old, his mother, with whom the writer always had warm, trusting communication, died of cancer.
Erich Maria studied at a church school, after which the young man entered a Catholic seminary. This was followed by years of study at the Royal Teachers' Seminary. There the writer became a member literary circle, in which I found friends and like-minded people.
In 1916 Remarque went to the front. A year later, he was wounded five times and spent the rest of the time in the hospital. Upon returning to his native land, Erich equipped an office in his father’s house, in which he studied music, drew and wrote. It was here in 1920 that his first work, “Shelter of Dreams,” was created.
For a year, Erich taught at a local school, but later abandoned this profession. The writer changed many jobs before he began making money as a writer. So in different times he worked as an accountant, tutor, organist, and even sold tombstones.
In 1922, Remarque left Osnabrück and went to Hanover. There he got a job at the Echo Continental magazine, where he wrote slogans, PR texts and various articles for a couple of months.
It is known that Erich also published in other magazines. So work in the publication “Sport im Bild” opened the door to the literary world for him. In 1925, the self-taught journalist went to Berlin to become the magazine's illustration editor.
Literature
In 1928, the novel “Stopping on the Horizon” was published. According to a friend of the writer, it was a book about first-class radiators and beautiful women. A year later, the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” was published. Remarque in it described all the horror and ruthlessness of the war through the eyes of a nineteen-year-old boy.
The work was translated into thirty-six languages, it was published forty times. In Germany, the book made a splash (one million copies were sold in a year). In the 1930s, a film was made based on the work.
The year 1931 was marked by the publication of the novel “The Return,” which tells the story of the lives of yesterday’s schoolchildren who returned from the war. Five years later, the book “Three Comrades” appears on the shelves. It was published in Danish and English.
In 1938, Remarque began work on the work “Love Thy Neighbor,” which was completed in 1939. At the same time, Collier’s magazine began publishing the writer’s work in parts.
In May 1946 in Zurich at German the novel " Arc de Triomphe“, and in the middle of summer Remarque finished work on the work “Spark of Life”. The following year, the premiere of a new film based on the story “On the Other Side” took place (the film was called “Another Love”).
The 1950s became the year of the break in relations with Natasha Palais (Brown) after ten years of constant meetings, quarrels and reconciliations. During the same period, work began on the novel “The Promised Land” (“Shadows in Paradise”) and “Black Obelisk.”
In 1954, the anti-war novel “A Time to Live and a Time to Die” was published; in 1959, the work “Life on Borrow” was published in the Hamburg magazine “Kristall”, and in 1962, a separate edition of the novel “Night in Lisbon” appeared on the shelves.
Personal life
In 1925, Remarque reached Berlin. There, the daughter of the publisher of a prestigious magazine, where he worked for a short time, fell in love with a handsome provincial man. True, the girl’s parents prevented their wedding, despite the fact that the writer received an editor’s position in the publication.
Soon Erich married dancer Ilse Jutta Zambona, with whom the marriage lasted four years. The big-eyed, thin young lady became the prototype of his couple literary heroines, including Pat from Three Comrades.
Then the metropolitan journalist behaved as if he wanted to quickly forget his heterogeneous past: he dressed elegantly, wore a monocle, often attended concerts, theaters, and fashionable restaurants with his wife, and even bought a baronial title from an impoverished aristocrat for 500 marks.
In January 1933, on the eve of coming to power, a friend of Remarque advised the writer to leave the city as quickly as possible. Erich immediately got into the car and, in what he was wearing, left for Switzerland. In May of the same year, the Nazis publicly burned the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, and deprived its author of German citizenship.
In 1938, the writer committed noble deed. To help your ex-wife Jutte got out of Germany and gave her the opportunity to live in Switzerland, he again entered into a marriage with her, which was dissolved only in 1957.
The main woman in the writer’s life was the famous movie star, who is the prototype of the heroine of the novel “Arc de Triomphe” - Joan Madu. A compatriot of Remarque, she also left Germany and, since 1930, successfully acted in the USA. From the point of view of generally accepted morality, Marlene did not shine with virtue.
Their romance was incredibly painful for the writer. Marlene came to France with her teenage daughter, her husband and her husband’s mistress. They said that the bisexual actress, whom Remarque nicknamed Puma, cohabited with both of them. In front of Remarque's eyes, she also started a relationship with a rich lesbian from America.
Because of his love bordering on madness, Erich was ready to forgive the artist everything, starting life with a blank slate. When the literary genius asked Marlene to marry him, the woman told her would-be gentleman that she had had an abortion. The child’s father was actor Jimmy Stewart, with whom the freedom-loving lady starred in the film “Destry Is Back in the Saddle.”
When Dietrich learned that Remarque had brought a collection of paintings (including 22 works) to America, Marlene wished to receive at least one painting as a birthday present. After countless humiliations, Remarque had the courage to refuse.
It is also worth noting that the writer did not feel like an outcast in Hollywood. His financial affairs were excellent. He enjoyed success with famous actresses, among whom was the famous one. True, the tawdry splendor of the film capital irritated Remarque. People seemed fake and overly vain to him.
After finally breaking up with Marlene, he moved to New York. The Arc de Triomphe was completed here in 1945. Impressed by his sister’s death, he began working on the novel “Spark of Life,” dedicated to her memory. This was the first book about something he himself had not experienced - a Nazi concentration camp.
In 1951, in New York, the writer met Paulette Godard, who was 40 years old at the time. Her ancestors on her mother's side came from American farmers, immigrants from England, and on her father's side they were Jews.
In 1957, Remarque officially divorced Jutta, paying her $25 thousand and assigning a lifetime maintenance of $800 a month. The following year, Remarque and Goddard legalized their relationship.
Death
Remarque spent the last two winters of his life with Paulette in Rome. In the summer of 1970, the writer’s heart failed again, and he was admitted to a hospital in Locarno. There the writer died on September 25 of the same year. The grave of the creator of the work “Spark of Life” is located in the Swiss Ronco cemetery.
It is known that on the day of the funeral ex-wife sent her ex-husband roses, but Goddard did not place them on the coffin.
For the first 5 years after her husband’s death, Paulette was diligently involved in his affairs, publications, and production of plays. In 1975 she became seriously ill. The tumor in the chest was removed too radically (several ribs were taken out), and the woman’s arm became swollen.
The writer's beloved lived for another 15 years, but these were sad years. Paulette became strange, moody, and on too many medications. During the next depression, the young lady donated $20 million to New York University, and then began to sell off the collection of impressionist paintings collected by Remarque.
It is also known that the ex-wife repeatedly tried to commit suicide. The owner of the house in New York in which she rented an apartment did not want to rent out housing to an alcoholic and asked her to go to Switzerland.
On April 23, 1990, Paulette demanded that a catalog of the auction where her jewelry was sold that day be given to her in bed. The sale brought in $1 million, and 3 hours after the auction ended, the actress died. The Oscar nominee was buried next to her husband in the Swiss Ronco cemetery.
Bibliography
- 1920 – “Shelter of Dreams”
- 1924 – “Gam”
- 1927 – “Station on the Horizon”
- 1929 – “All Quiet on the Western Front”
- 1931 – “Return”
- 1936 – “Three Comrades”
- 1941 – “Love Thy Neighbor”
- 1945 – “Arc de Triomphe
- 1952 – “Spark of Life”
- 1954 – “A Time to Live and a Time to Die”
- 1956 – “Black Obelisk”
- 1959 – “Life on Borrow”
- 1962 – “Night in Lisbon”
Quotes
“The greatest hatred arises for those who managed to touch the heart and then spat in the soul.”
“The most wonderful city is the one where a person is happy”
“Love does not tolerate explanations. She needs actions"
“It is a mistake to assume that all people have the same ability to feel.”
“It’s better to die when you want to live than to live until you want to die.”