A statement was widely dispersed on the Internet, the authorship of which is attributed to the German writer. We decided to check if he said something like that.

Phrase "In the dark, bright people are clearly visible" with attribution Erich Maria Remarco you can Meet on sites with collections aphorisms And Quote famous people. It is often placed on their pages by users of social networks and a blog-platform (Twitter, "VKontakte" Instagram*, Pinterest, "Zen" Livejournal). The statement is also found in reviews Readers on Remarque books. Even the media published the phrase (for example, "Kalmykia"). Other authors insert this quote into their works, also attributing it to her remark - for example, she meets in "Death on Kiklads"Sergey Izographova or in"Dream. Hope. Love!"Vladimir Leonov. 

"Verified" failed to find this phrase in any of the artistic works Remarka. When looking for this quote in the service Google Books In the search results (and in Russian, and in English, and in German), books of other authors who mention it with the name of the German writer mainly appear. In the search results in Russian there are also Remarque novels “Night in Lisbon” and “Black Obelisk”, but the pre -examination mode in Google Books is not available to them. If you see the texts of these novels in other sources, it is not possible to find anything like this quote. 

If in Russian the phrase is distributed in the same formulation, then in English there are several versions of quotes that differ significantly, for example: “In Dark Its Well Visible Light People” and “Dark Times Always Reveal Good People”. That is, most likely, this is just a variety of translation (not always grammatically true) from some other language. 

As in the case of English, the options for this phrase in German are slightly different: for example, in the same publications - “In Dunklen Zeiten, Deutlich Sichtbare Helle Menschen”, “In Dunklen Zeiten Kann Mann deutlin Sehen”. This is strange, given that the vast majority of his texts Remarus wrote in German - if the phrase really belongs to him, there should not be discrepancies. In addition, in the writer’s native language, the phrase dispersed on the Internet at all widely: Google, according to the corresponding search query, issues only a few sites with selection of quotes- as in the case of Russian and English resources, without specifying a particular source.

In addition to art works, after the death of Remarus, many other documents of his authorship remained: correspondence, interviews, drafts. Some of them are digitized - for example, his Letters, addressed to actress Marlene Dietrich, with whom the writer had a novel. Also on the Internet you can find Some interviews of the remark, his essay and other journalistic texts. In them, as in works of art, there is no quote desired. Failed to find it in Collections The newspaper articles of different years about the remark, which the German National Library of Economics scanned and posted into open access.

However, a significant part of the remark legacy is still available only on paper. The Center for the Erich Maria Remarca world, located in the German city of Osnabruk, where the writer was born, claimsthat the most complete collection of his work is stored there, but the archive is not digested entirely. “Verified” turned to the specialists of the Center for the World with the question of authorship of this quote, and this is what they answered: “In the Russian-and Ukrainian-speaking countries, the numerous aphorisms of the remark are circulating, which are completely fictional or born as a result of an artistic translation, and it is impossible to find them in German publications. The quote about which you ask could appear just so and probably ascends to the passage from the "three comrades." IN Russian translation (quite accurate in relation to both the German original and the given employee of the world center of the English -language version) This passage from the novel sounds like this: “Only the unfortunate knows what happiness is. The lucky one feels the joy of life nothing more than a mannequin: he only demonstrates this joy, but it is not given to him. The light does not shine when it is light. He shines in darkness. " This fragment only remotely resembles a disassembled quote; Perhaps she appeared as a result of some amateur inaccurate translation or incorrect quoting.

Part of the texts left by the remark Store In the library of New York University, and they are also inaccessible online. “Verified” directed the question of the alleged author of the statement to the university, but at the time of publication this analysis did not receive a response. Nevertheless, it seems doubtful that someone discovered this quote in paper sources in this archive, and then distributed on the Internet.

Despite the fact that Erich Maria Remarck died back in 1970, a quote about bright people, who are clearly visible in the dark, began to attribute to him, judging by the results of the search at Google, not earlier than 2014. The earliest case of attribution to the writer of this phrase, which “verified” was found in Russian, are two publications of September 14, 2014: one - on site with selections of quotes, and the second - on Portal Orthodox temple. All examples of using this quote in English and German appeared on the Internet even later. 

Thus, “verified” could not find a single evidence that Remarque had ever pronounced or wrote something about bright people who are clearly visible in the dark times. The first publications of this quote with the attribution of the writer appeared in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet not earlier than 2014, and in the English and German-speaking ones- even later. In addition, if in Russian the statement is fixed in the same form, then foreign options are quite different from the publication to the publication, which is strange, given that the original statement, most likely, should be in the German - native language of the remark. Some of the written sources that remained after the death of the writer are still not digitized, but it is extremely unlikely that the phrase was taken from the archives inaccessible to the wide public, and then distributed on the Internet without indicating the source. Given the fact that it was “verified” to find any evidence, and the specialists in the study of the life and work of the remark to which we turned to, nothing is known about such a quote, we can conclude that the writer was attributed by mistake.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Willem Van de Poll, CC0, Via Wikimedia Commons

Incorrect attribution of quote

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it true that Erich Maria Remark actually bore the surname Kramer?
2. Did Emir Dubai say that “difficult times create strong people,” and did he illustrate this with the help of camels and cars?
3. Did Robin Williams say: “You will have bad times, but they will always open your eyes to things that you did not pay attention to”?