Erich Maria Remarque.

Drafted at 18, Erich Paul Remark served on the Western Front and was wounded multiple times. He had been born on June 22, 1898, in Osnabrück, Germany to a Catholic family of French ancestry. His father was a bookbinder, and his mother died when he was young—her name, Maria, later became part of his pen name.

The 1929 publication of All Quiet on the Western Front made Remarque an international literary figure. The novel sold millions worldwide and was adapted into the 1930 Academy Award-winning film. Its anti-war message led the Nazis to vilify Remarque and burn his books in 1933. He continued writing, producing The Road Back 1931 and Arch of Triumph 1945, among others. After emigrating to the United States in 1939, he became a naturalized citizen and wrote several more novels. In 1958, he acted in the film adaptation of his novel A Time to Love and a Time to Die, the only movie in which he performed.

Remarque was married twice. His first marriage to Jutta Ilse Zambona lasted from 1925 to 1930; they remarried in 1938 but divorced again in 1957. In 1958, he married actress Paulette Goddard, who appeared in Charlie Chaplin films. The couple lived in Switzerland until his death. Remarque had a sister, Elfriede Scholz, who was executed by the Nazis in 1943 for anti-Nazi statements, a tragedy that haunted him.

All Quiet on the Western Front is required reading in schools worldwide, with its unflinching portrayal of World War I’s horrors. The novel won the 1930 Academy Award for Best Picture in its film adaptation. In Germany, Remarque posthumously received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. His works have been translated into dozens of languages and adapted for screen multiple times. He is remembered as a voice of the lost generation of WWI soldiers.