On 12 June, 1917 he was transferred to the Western Front, 2nd Company, Reserves, Field Depot of the 2nd Reserves Guards Division at Hem-Lenglet. On 26 June, he was stationed between Thorhut and Houthulst, Trench Battalion Bethe (Name of commander), 2nd Company of the 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment. On 31 July he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck, and repatriated to an army hospital in Germany, where he spent the rest of the war.[1]

After the war he changed his last name to Remarque, which had been the family-name until his grandfather changed it due to 19th Century German xenophobia. He worked at a number of different jobs, including librarian, businessman, teacher, journalist and editor.

In 1929, Remarque published his most famous work, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) under the name Erich Maria Remarque (changing his middle name in honor of his mother). The novel described the utter cruelty of the war from the perspective of a twenty year-old soldier. A number of similar works followed; in simple, emotive language they described wartime and the postwar years.

In 1933, the Nazis banned and burned Remarque's works, and issued propaganda stating that he was a descendant of French Jews and that his real last name was Kramer, a Jewish-sounding name, and his original name spelled backwards. This is still listed in some biographies despite the complete lack of proof. Also despite clear evidence to the contrary, their assertion that he had never seen active service remains in some references.

Remarque had been living in Switzerland since 1931, and in 1939 he emigrated to the United States of America with his first wife, Ilsa Jeanne Zamboui, whom he married and divorced twice, and they became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1947. In 1948 he went to Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life. He married the Hollywood actress Paulette Goddard in 1958 and they remained married until his death in 1970 at age 72. He is interred in the Ronco cemetery in Ronco, Ticino, Switzerland, where Goddard is also interred. Goddard left a bequest of $20 million to New York University to fund an institute for European study which is named after Remarque. The first Director of The Remarque Institute was Professor Tony Judt.

Works

1920 – Die Traumbude; English translation: The Dream Room
1929 – Im Westen nichts Neues; English translation: All Quiet on the Western Front
1931 – Der Weg zurück; English translation: The Road Back
1937 – Drei Kameraden; English translation: Three Comrades
1941 – Liebe deinen Nächsten; English translation: Flotsam
1946 – Arc de Triomphe; English translation: Arch of Triumph
1952 – Der Funke Leben; English translation: The Spark of Life
1954 – Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben; English translation: A Time to Live and a Time to Die
1956 – Der schwarze Obelisk; English translation: The Black Obelisk
1956 – Die letzte Station; English translation: Full Circle - play
1961 – Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge; English translation: Heaven Has No Favorites
1962 – Die Nacht von Lissabon; English translation: The Night in Lisbon
1971 – Schatten im Paradies; English translation: Shadows in Paradise
His books have been translated into at least 58 languages.