Erich Maria Remarque

Erich Maria Remarque
Pictured in Davos, Switzerland in 1928
Born	(1898-06-22)22 June 1898 Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany
Died	25 September 1970(1970-09-25) (aged 72) Locarno, Switzerland
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	German
Citizenship	United States (1947–1970)
Notable works	All Quiet on the Western Front
Spouse	Ilse Jutta Zambona (m. 1925; div. 1930) and (m. 1938; div. 1957) Paulette Goddard (m. 1958; his death 1970)

Erich Maria Remarque (22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970), born Erich Paul Remark, was a German novelist who created many works about the terror of war. His best known novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), about German soldiers in the First World War, was made into an Oscar-winning movie. His book made him an enemy of the Nazis, who burned many of his works.

Erich Maria Remarque was born on 22 June 1898 into a working class family in the German city of Osnabrück to Peter Franz Remark (b. 14 June 1867, Kaiserswerth) and Anna Maria (née Stallknecht; born 21 November 1871, Katernberg).

During World War I, Remarque volunteered to join the German Army at the age of 18. On 12 June 1917, he was transferred to the Western Front, 2nd Company, Reserves, Field Depot of the 2nd Guards Reserve Division at Hem-Lenglet. On 26 June, he was posted to the 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe, and was stationed between Torhout and Houthulst. On 31 July, he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck, and was repatriated to an army hospital in Germany where he spent the rest of the war.

After the war he continued his teacher training and worked from 1 August 1919 as a primary school teacher in Lohne, at that time in the county of Lingen, now in the county of Bentheim. From May 1920 he worked in Klein Berßen in the former County of Hümmling, now Emsland, and from August 1920 in Nahne, which has been a part of Osnabrück since 1972. On 20 November 1920 he applied for leave of absence from teaching.