Remarque, Erich Maria

WRITER (GERMANY)
BORN 22 Jun 1898, Osnabrück, Niedersachsen - DIED 25 Sep 1970, Ronco sopra Ascona, Ticino
BIRTH NAME Remark, Erich Paul
GRAVE LOCATION Ronco sopra Ascona, Ticino: Cimitero di Ronco sopra Ascona

Erich Maria Remarque came from a working class family. During the First World War he was in the German army and on 31 July 1917 he was wounded. After the war he finished his training as a teacher and obtained a teaching job in Lohne in 1919. He left his teaching job and worked as a librarian and as a journalist. In 1920 his novel "Die Traumbude" was published. He married the actress Ilse Jutta Zambona in 1925.

He wrote "Im Westen nichts Neues" ("All Quiet on the Western Front") in 1927, but he had trouble finding a publisher. It was finally published in 1929 and described what happened to the German soldiers in the First World War. It was a tremendous success and it enabled him to buy the villa where Arnold Böcklin had lived in Ronco sopra Ascona with the idea of living partially in Switzerland. In 1930 he divorced Zambona. In the 1930s he had affairs with Hedy Lamarr, Dolores del Rio, Margot von Opel and Marlene Dietrich (from 1937 to 1940).

In 1933 his work was banned and publicly burned in Germany and he left Germany for his house in Switzerland. In 1939 he married his ex- wife again to prevent her deportation to Germany. They moved to the USA and became American citizens in 1947. His younger sister Elfriede Scholz was arrested in 1943 and judge Roland Freisler noted that her brother had escaped them but she would not. She was convicted for undermining the morale and beheaded on 16 December 1943. Remarque only heard about her execution after the war.

In 1948 he returned to Switzerland, where he lived until his death. He published "Der Funke Leben" ("The Spark of Life") in 1952. He divorced Zambona again in 1957 and in 1958 he married the actress Paulette Godard. He died in 1970 in Ronco sopra Ascona, where he was buried. Paulette lived until 1990 and was buried beside him.

Family
• Wife: Goddard, Paulette (1958-1970)

Images

The grave of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard at the Cimitero di Ronco sopra Ascona, Ticino.
Picture by Androom (16 Feb 2019)

 

Sources
Erich Maria Remarque - Wikipedia


Rémusat, Claire-Élisabeth Gravier de Vergennes, comtesse de

Published: 23 Mar 2019
Last update: 30 May 2020