Thomas Hüetlin: "Man lebt sein Leben nur einmal"

September 1937: The Venice Film Festival has just come to an end. On the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido, Hollywood diva Marlene Dietrich is sitting with Josef von Sternberg, who made her a world star as the director of "The Blue Angel". Then a completely different exceptional artist approaches the table, introduces himself and begins a charming small talk: the German writer Erich Maria Remarque, who achieved world fame with his anti-war novel "Nothing New in the West".

At this moment, one of the wildest love affairs of the 20th century begins, an amour fou that lasts only a few years and takes both of them to their emotional limits on an almost daily basis. A love story full of pleasures and ecstasies, full of disappointments and new beginnings against the backdrop of the looming human catastrophe of the Second World War. Like tens of thousands of others, both are on the run from the Nazi terror system in their home country, both are experiencing painful creative and career crises. Both commute between Paris, Cap d'Antibes, Ancona, St. Moritz and New York, Beverly Hills, between the old and the new world - driven by fears of the future and self-doubt, but also in a constant search for fame and recognition for their work. On the basis of diaries, correspondence and memories of many companions and contemporaries, Thomas Hüetlin tells the story of a century of love between two shining lights of German culture in the face of impending horror in the style of a captivating reportage.

Organizer: Erich Maria Remarque-Friedenszentrum and Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen

Ticket reservations: Literaturbüro Westniedersachsen, Tel. 0541 2027908, Email: LitOs-info@osnabrueck.de

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