A book exhibition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of the German writer Erich Maria Remarque has been organized in the Hall of World Literature.
Erich Paul Remarque was born on June 22, 1898 in Osnabrück (South Germany). In youth Remarque was fond of the works of Hermann Hesse, Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marcel Proust and Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In 1904-1912 he studied at a folk school, in 1912-1915 at a Catholic teachers' seminary. On November 21, 1916, Remarque was drafted into the army, and on June 17, 1917, he was sent to the Western Front. Since 1919, Remarque served as a teacher, but a year later he changed many classes. The impressions of that period of life later formed the basis of the novel «The Black Obelisk». In 1921, while working as an editor at Echo Continental magazine, he changed his middle name in honor of his mother.
In 1924, Remarque moved to Berlin. In 1929, Remarque published his first novel “On the Western Front without Change”, which literally immediately thundered all over the world. In this book he described the brutality of war from the point of view of a 20-year-old soldier. The novel instantly became a real sensation and was translated into 26 languages of the world. In April 1931, his novel “The Return” was published as a separate book. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, his books were banned. The demonstrative burning of his books took place on May 10, 1933 at the Opernplatz in Berlin, as well as in a number of other German cities. In 1938, the National Socialists deprived the writer of German citizenship.
In 1939, the novel "Love Your Neighbor" was published. Remark received an American visa and moved to the USA. In 1945, Remarque completed the novel “The Arc de Triomphe”. In 1947, he received American citizenship. On May 19, 1948, after a nine-year absence, Remarque returned to Europe. In 1954, his novel "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" was published. In September 1956, the premiere of the play based on his book "The Last Stop" took place in West Berlin, and a month later the novel "The Black Obelisk" was published. In 1958 his novel "Life on Loan" was published, in 1962 - "A Night in Lisbon". In the last years of his life, Erich Maria Remarque struggled with the disease and in 1970, on September 25, died at the age of 73.
In total, the writer has fifteen novels on his account, among which are "Love your Neighbor" about the fate of the Jewish population of Germany during the formative years of fascism, "Arc de Triomphe" about the difficult life of emigrants fleeing Nazi persecution, the antiwar work "A Time to Live and a Time to Die", based on the events of World War II and etc. His novels "Arc de Triomphe", "Three Comrades", "Black Obelisk" became the literary manifesto of the "lost generation".
In 1972, a memorial plaque was unveiled in Berlin in honor of Remarque. In 1991, the writer's hometown established the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize, which is awarded every two years for outstanding achievements in scientific, literary or journalistic activities. In 1995, the Erich Maria Remarque Institute was founded at the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at New York University. In 1996, the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Center opened in Osnabrück.
Many feature films have been made based on his books. There are more than 24 film adaptations.
The purpose of the exhibition is to provide readers with information about the writer's life, his work and popularization of the works of the world-famous German writer.
The book exhibition from the fund of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan presents books by Erich Maria Remarque in Kazakh, Russian, German, Hungarian languages.
We invite everyone to the book exhibition!