A summary of Erich Maria Remarque’s "Arc de Triomphe"

German writer Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, published in 1945, is a drama about the lives of German émigrés forced into hiding in France on the eve of World War II. The story spans the period from November 1938 to September 1939. At the center of the plot is the fate of a German surgeon who survived torture in Gestapo dungeons and attempts to preserve his dignity, love, and revenge in a crumbling European world.

The novel has been adapted for film several times. The most famous was the 1948 American adaptation starring Engrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, and in 1984, a British television film of the same name starring Anthony Hopkins was released. The book is not part of a series and stands alone as a standalone work.

Meeting on the Alma Bridge and life at the Hotel International

The novel’s protagonist is a German surgeon hiding in Paris under the pseudonym Ravic. In Germany, he saved friends from Nazi persecution, earning him a Gestapo prison sentence where he was tortured, and his lover, Sybille, died in custody. Having fled the country, Ravic lives without papers in the dilapidated Hotel Internationale in Paris. Unlicensed to practice medicine, he secretly performs complex surgeries for French doctors Dr. Weber and Professor Durand, who pocket the bulk of the fees and fame.

On a rainy November night on the Pont d’Alma, Ravic stops a desperate woman about to throw herself into the Seine. She turns out to be actress and singer Joan Madou, devastated by the sudden death of her companion, Raczynski. Ravic helps her settle matters with the police and the hotel owner, and then gets Joan a place at the hotel. With the help of his friend, Boris Morozov, a doorman at the Scheherazade nightclub, he helps Joan find work as a singer. Gradually, a romance blossoms between Ravic and Joan.

At the same time, Ravic continues his medical work. He saves the young milliner Lucienne Martinet after a botched abortion, amputates the shattered leg of a boy named Jeannot, and operates on his friend, a wealthy American woman named Kat Hagstrom, who suffers from terminal cancer.

The image of the enemy and the trip to Antibes

Entering a Parisian bistro, Ravic spots a man whose face is forever imprinted in his memory. It’s the Gestapo officer Haacke, who personally tortured him in Berlin and drove Sybille to suicide. Ravic rushes out into the street, eager to deal with his tormentor, but loses him in the crowd of passersby. The encounter awakens a long-held thirst for revenge in him.

Ravic and Joan’s relationship becomes increasingly strained. Joan is struggling with the instability of their situation: Ravic has no future, and he could be arrested by the French authorities at any moment. To escape their worries, Ravic and Joan travel to Antibes on the Côte d’Azur. There, they spend a few happy days in the southern sun. However, Ravic realizes that Joan is yearning for an easier, more secure life. Upon returning to Paris, Kät Hagström bids Ravic farewell and leaves, sensing her impending demise.

Arrest, deportation and return

While providing first aid to a woman injured by a fallen beam at a construction site, Ravik attracts the attention of the police. A police check reveals he has no identification. At the station, he identifies himself as Vladimír Vocek, a Czech. After two weeks in custody, he is deported from France to Switzerland.

Only three months later, Ravic manages to illegally cross the border again and return to Paris. Visiting Joan, he learns that she has moved into a luxurious apartment, and her new life is being financed by the young actor Gérard, who has arranged for her to appear in a film. Joan tearfully convinces Ravic that she continues to love only him and considers her relationship with the actor forced. However, Ravic refuses to be the second man in her life and decisively breaks off the relationship.

Revenge in the Forest of Saint-Germain

At the Fouquet restaurant, Ravic runs into Haacke again. This time, the Gestapo officer himself sits down at his table, mistaking Ravic for a German compatriot named von Horn. Haacke doesn’t recognize the man he once tortured. He confides in him, boasts of the successes of Nazi intelligence, and asks to show him the nightlife of Paris.

Ravic keeps his cool and offers to take Haake to a private, elite club. He puts Haake in a rented car and heads for the Bois de Boulogne. On a dark alley, Ravic brakes abruptly, causing Haake to hit his head. He then stuns him with a wrench and strangles him.

Ravic takes the body to the Saint-Germain Forest, where he digs a hole in advance. To prevent identification, he strips the dead man of his clothes and mutilates his face with a hammer. He then buries the body and carefully covers the area with turf. Ravic burns Haacke’s clothes, documents, and ticket to Berlin in another neighborhood, and transfers the French money to refugees. Returning to Paris, Ravic feels that his act of vengeance has freed him from long-standing spiritual oppression and brought him long-awaited peace.

The death of Joan and the beginning of the war

Late at night, Ravic’s room rings, and a terrified Gerard comes running. The actor confesses that he accidentally shot Joan during an argument. Ravic rushes to her apartment and discovers Joan with a severe gunshot wound to the neck. The bullet lodged in her spine, causing paralysis.

Joan is transferred to the Weber Clinic. Ravic realizes her case is hopeless. He spends her dying hours at her bedside. Joan confesses her love, asks him not to leave her, and begs him to spare her her suffering. When a painful attack of suffocation sets in, Ravic gives her a lethal injection of morphine, ending her agony. Joan dies in his arms.

On the same day, September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland. World War II begins. France declares mobilization, and Paris is plunged into a blackout. French authorities begin a police crackdown and arrest all foreign refugees.

Boris Morozov offers Ravic a fake ID and an escape, but Ravic refuses. He no longer wants to run. Returning to the Hotel International, Ravic calmly awaits the police. During interrogation, he reveals his real name — Ludwig Fresenburg. Along with other emigrants, he is loaded into a truck. The car drives off into the darkness, where the Arc de Triomphe disappears from view in the pitch-black night above the Place de l’Étoile.