The way back
The way back is the title of a novel by Erich Maria Remarque . In his book, Remarque describes the return of German soldiers to civilian life after the end of the First World War .
The sequel to Remarque's novel Nothing New in the West first appeared between December 1930 and January 1931 in the Vossische Zeitung before it was published as a book by Propylaen-Verlag in April 1931. After its publication, the novel was controversially discussed and criticized in Germany because of its pessimistic attitude. In May 1933, Der Weg zurück was publicly burned by the National Socialists together with Nothing New in the West .
action
In the trenches on the western front, Ernst Birkholz, the protagonist, and his comrades experience the end of the First World War, after which they make their way home. Once there, they find that they are not being celebrated as heroes, but that nothing is left of the enthusiasm for war with which they were “lured” into war years earlier. A large part of the population, including the parents and wives of Ernst and his comrades, cannot and does not want to recognize that the years of war changed and traumatized the young soldiers. The entry into the aimless and unimportant civil life for the soldiers seems impossible to them after the life in the trenches. The former soldiers feel increasingly excluded and disoriented from society. While some capitalize on the plight of the population as unscrupulous pushers, others end up in the madhouse, end up in prison, or commit suicide. Ernst Birkholz finished his studies at the teachers' college, which had been interrupted by the war, and took up a position as a teacher in a village, which he quit a short time later because the prospect of an eternally uniform life put him off. At this point, his psychological trauma comes to the fore, which ends in a nervous breakdown . The book ends with the protagonist realizing that a lot was destroyed by the war, but also that some things have to be rebuilt and repaired.
filming
In 1937 the story was made into a film by director James Whale under the title The Road Back based on a screenplay by Charles Kenyon.
Text output
- Erich Maria Remarque: The way back. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-462-04630-4 .