Spark of Life

By

Erich Marie Remarque

TThree stars out of Five stars

Before “All Quiet on the Western Front” in 1929, Erich Maria Remarque had published three novels: The Dream Room in 1920, Gam in 1924, and Station at the Horizon in 1928.  These three are not considered his major works. The ones after All Quiet on the Western Front, 10 in number, are all major novels, starting with The Road Back in 1931 and ending with Shadows in Paradise in 1971.  There is also the incomplete novel The Promised Land in 1970.

Of the 10 major completed novels, I have read and written reviews on 9 of them.  Except for Al Quiet on the Wester Front which drew on the author’s experiences as a soldier in World War I, the others described the situation of Germany after the War and the lives of German refugees in Europe and America, either through the author’s own lens or through those of his friends and contemporaries.   

The last of the completed major novel, Spark of Life, published in 1952, tells the story of inmates and watchmen of the fictional concentration camp Mellern, known as the “Little Camp”, a few months before the end of World War II.  Remarque started the novel shortly after learning in June 1946 of the death of Elfriede Scholz, his youngest sister, who had been beheaded after a trial of the  People's Court  in 1943.  He dedicated the book to the memory of her.

The novel is based on the books and conversations with survivors. The novel focuses on the physical and psychological brutality of the SS camp guards and highlights the inmates' resilience in the face of dehumanization.  Physical torture and brutality techniques employed by the SS included medical experiments, beatings and lashes, exhaustion and forced labor, hanging, humiliation and dehumanization, as well as starvation.  There was also psychological torment which included mental cruelty, false hope and sonic torture. 

There is a particularly gruesome scene of the SS squad leader Breuer cold bloodily hammer an inmate to death.  There is also a poignant scene in which a dying inmate who was a Catholic asked for a priest for confession.  There was no priest in the camp.  After much effort, the best his fellow inmates could found was someone who spoke Latin. 

While the reader learns much about life in a Nazi concentration camp toward the end of World War II, there was not much of a plot.  While it was mentioned that the inmates were smuggling weapons and preparing for a armed conflict with the SS to liberate themselves, no such conflict took place.  The camp was liberated by American soldiers.   

The following are some memorable quotes:

- If we’ve nothing else, let’s feed on hope

-In the laws of the jungle.  man killed in order to live.  In much of history, it appeared that man lived in order to kill.

- No animal, other than man, feels the fear of death.

In conclusion, while much is learned about lives in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, Spark of Life lacks a dramatic narrative.  It demands a lot of patience from the reader.  It gives me no pleasure to say that I am glad that I read the other nine major novels before it.