Erich Maria Remarque Erich Maria Remarque ( 22 June 1898 – 25 September 1970 ) , born Erich Paul Remark , was a German author , best known for his novel " All Quiet on the Western Front " . Life and work . 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 ) . First World War . During World War I , Remarque was conscripted into the 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 . Teacher . 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 , bringing this period of his life to an end . Other jobs . Erich worked at a number of different jobs , including librarian , businessman , teacher , journalist and editor . His first paid writing job was as a technical writer for the Continental Rubber Company , a German tyre manufacturer . Novelist . At the age of 16 , Remarque had made his first attempts at writing ; this included essays , poems , and the beginnings of a novel that was finished later and published in 1920 as " The Dream Room " ( " Die Traumbude " ) . When he published " All Quiet on the Western Front " , Remarque changed his middle name in memory of his mother and reverted to the earlier spelling of the family name to dissociate himself from his novel " Die Traumbude " . The original family name , Remarque , had been changed to Remark by his grandfather in the 19th century . In 1927 , Remarque made a second literary start with the novel " Station at the Horizon ( Station am Horizont ) " , which was serialised in the sports journal " Sport im Bild " for which Remarque was working . It was published in book form only in 1998 . His best known work , " All Quiet on the Western Front ( Im Westen nichts Neues ) " , was written in a few months in 1927 , but Remarque was not immediately able to find a publisher . The novel , published in 1929 , described the experiences of German soldiers during World War I . A number of similar works followed ; in simple , emotive language they described wartime and the postwar years . In 1931 , after finishing " The Road Back ( Der Weg zurück ) " , Remarque bought a villa in Porto Ronco , Switzerland , planning to live both there and in France . His next novel , " Three Comrades " ( " Drei Kameraden " ) , spans the years of the Weimar Republic , from the hyperinflation of 1923 to the end of the decade . Remarque ' s fourth novel , " Flotsam " ( in German titled " Liebe deinen Nächsten , " or " Love Thy Neighbour " ) , first appeared in a serial version in English translation in " Collier ' s " magazine in 1939 , and Remarque spent another year revising the text for its book publication in 1941 , both in English and German . His next novel , " Arch of Triumph " , first published in 1945 in English , and the next year in German as " Arc de Triomphe " , was another instant best - seller and reached worldwide sales of nearly five million . Nazi era . On 10 May 1933 , the German government , on the initiative of the Nazi propaganda minister , Joseph Goebbels , banned and publicly burned Remarque ' s works . Remarque finally left Germany to live at his villa in Switzerland . The Nazis continued to decry his writings and claimed that he was a descendant of French Jews and that his real surname name was Kramer , a Jewish - sounding name , and his original name spelled backwards . This is still cited in some biographies despite the complete lack of evidence . The Nazis also claimed , falsely , that Remarque had not seen active service during World War I . In 1938 , Remarque ' s German citizenship was revoked and then in 1939 after he and his ex - wife were remarried to prevent her repatriation to Germany , they left Porto Ronco , Switzerland for the United States of America . They became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1947 . In 1943 , the government arrested his sister , Elfriede Scholz , who had stayed behind in Germany with her husband and two children . After a short trial in the " Volksgerichtshof " ( Hitler ' s extra - constitutional " People ' s Court " ) , she was found guilty of " undermining morale " for stating that she considered the war lost . Court President Roland Freisler declared , " " Ihr Bruder ist uns leider entwischt — Sie aber werden uns nicht entwischen " " ( " Your brother is unfortunately beyond our reach — you , however , will not escape us " ) . Scholz was beheaded on 16 December 1943 , and the cost of her prosecution , imprisonment and execution — 495 . 80 Reichsmark — was billed to her sister Erna . Switzerland . In 1948 , Remarque returned to Switzerland , where he spent the rest of his life . There was a gap of seven years — a long silence for Remarque — between " Arch of Triumph " and his next work , " Spark of Life ( Der Funke Leben ) " , which appeared both in German and in English in 1952 . While he was writing " The Spark of Life " Remarque was also working on a novel , " Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben " ( " Time to Live and Time to Die " ) . It was published first in English translation in 1954 with the not - quite - literal title " A Time to Love and a Time to Die " . In 1958 , Douglas Sirk directed the film " A Time to Love and a Time to Die " in Germany , based on Remarque ' s novel . Remarque made a cameo appearance in the film in the role of the Professor . In 1955 , Remarque wrote the screenplay for an Austrian film , " The Last Act ( Der letzte Akt ) " , about Hitler ' s final days in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin , which was based on the book " Ten Days to Die " ( 1950 ) by Michael Musmanno . In 1956 , Remarque wrote a drama for the stage , " Full Circle ( Die letzte Station ) " , which played successfully in both Germany and on Broadway . An English translation was published in 1974 . " Heaven Has No Favorites " was serialised ( as " Borrowed Life " ) in 1959 before appearing as a book in 1961 and was made into the 1977 film " Bobby Deerfield " . " The Night in Lisbon " ( " Die Nacht von Lissabon " ) , published in 1962 , is the last work Remarque finished . The novel sold some 900 , 000 copies in Germany and was a modest best - seller abroad as well . Marriages . His first marriage was to the actress Ilse Jutta Zambona in 1925 . Their marriage was stormy and unfaithful on both sides . Remarque and Zambona divorced in 1930 , but fled together to his home in Porto Ronco , Switzerland in 1933 when the Nazis took over Germany ; in May 1933 , his novel " All Quiet on the Western Front " was burned in one of the first of the Nazi book burnings and it became clear that neither Remarque nor Zambona could return to Germany . During the 1930s , Remarque had relationships with Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr and then with Marlene Dietrich . The love affair with Dietrich began in September 1937 when they met on the Lido while in Venice for the film festival and continued through at least 1940 , maintained mostly by way of letters , cables and telephone calls . A selection of their letters were published in 2003 in the book " Sag Mir , Dass Du Mich Liebst " ( " Tell Me That You Love Me " ) and then in the 2011 play " Puma " . In 1938 , Remarque and his ex - wife Zambona remarried each other in Switzerland as a protection to prevent her being forced to return to Germany and then they emigrated to the United States in 1939 where they both became naturalised citizens in 1947 . They divorced again on 20 May 1957 , this time for good . Ilse Remarque died on 25 June 1975 . Remarque married actress Paulette Goddard in 1958 and they remained married until his death in Locarno on 25 September 1970 , aged 72 . Remarque was interred in the Ronco Cemetery in Ronco , Ticino , Switzerland . Goddard died in 1990 and was interred next to her husband . She left a bequest of $ 20 million to New York University to fund an institute for European studies , which is named in honour of Remarque . The first Director of The Remarque Institute was Professor Tony Judt . Remarque ' s papers are housed at NYU ' s Fales Library . NYU also named an undergraduate dormitory building after her : Paulette Goddard Hall . Casa Monte Tabor . Efforts to raise CHF 6 . 2M ( $ 7M ) , to buy and save the villa of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard from almost certain demolition are underway . The intent is to transform the Casa Monte Tabor into a museum and home to an artist - in - residence programme , focused on creativity , freedom and peace . List of works . Note : the dates of English publications are those of the first publications in a book form .