Guest redrum Posted 27 June , 2004 Share Posted 27 June , 2004 Is it true that the author of "All quiet ..." never served in the trenches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 27 June , 2004 Share Posted 27 June , 2004 No. He was called up age 18 in 1916 and was wounded on the Westerm Front. Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 27 June , 2004 Share Posted 27 June , 2004 If I remember correctly, Remarque was sent to hospital and when he recovered, he got a job as a clerk in the hospital and never returned to the Western Front. I have read that he was wounded (as Malcolm says) but I've also read that he was never in the trenches in a combat role. Sorry about the vagueness - it's all stuff I remember reading some time ago. Can't remember where! Can't look it up to check! Hopefully someone will be able to give us the full story. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec McCudden Posted 27 June , 2004 Share Posted 27 June , 2004 In Richard Holmes' new book 'Tommy', he writes "Remarque's own experience of the war was very limited. He never actually fought in the trenches, was slightly wounded by shrapnel, and after the war was censured for posing as a decorated officer." Holmes doesn't state his source so I cannot verify this. However, he is a thorough and usually very reliable historian. Alec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank_East Posted 27 June , 2004 Share Posted 27 June , 2004 Remarque proved that the pen was mightier than the sword. I think his real name was Kramer and he came from a French family long settled in the Rhineland. His books were along with many others burnt on the giant bonfire on 10 May 1933 at midnight on the Unter den Linden.Goebbels who organised the event as Propaganda Minister proclaimed,"The soul of the German people can again express itself.These flames not only illuminate the final end of an old era; they also light up the new". Interestingly the majority of the participants in this ritual were students,no doubt they found different roles in the next 12 years. Regards Frank East Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 28 June , 2004 Share Posted 28 June , 2004 I think his real name was Kramer and he came from a French family long settled in the Rhineland. He was born Erich Paul Kramer in 1898. He reversed (and slightly altered) the family name to "Remark" and francophiled it to "Remarque" before he started writing. Apparently, he was wounded by shrapnel whilst carrying a wounded comrade to a CCS, thus ending his time in the danger zone. He didn't see any action on the front line during his WW1 service. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 28 June , 2004 Share Posted 28 June , 2004 He was born Erich Paul Kramer in 1898. PS. No idea where the "Maria" came from!!!! Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AOK4 Posted 28 June , 2004 Share Posted 28 June , 2004 Hello, Maria came from his grandmother IIRC. Remarque was wounded while digging trenches in Flanders in 1917, he stayed in hospitals until the end of the war (doing a job as a kind of clerk) and used the stories he heard there for his book. Regards, Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyHollinger Posted 28 June , 2004 Share Posted 28 June , 2004 Thank you ... this is very interesting ... but, being close enough to be hit by shrapnel makes you close enough to say you've seen action ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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