A German concentration camp in the spring of 1945, shortly before liberation by the Allies. A group of prisoners in a section of the camp for the dying tries to preserve its human dignity. They make contact with the inmates of the main camp and assume an important function in the preparations for an uprising against the already demoralized SS. Thus, they regain their dignity, and one of the protagonists, known as “Skeleton 509,” remembers his actual name.

Spark of Life is not a documentary account of a historic concentration camp. The novel takes the Buchenwald camp as a model and portrays fictional events.

Remarque reveals not only the perspective of the prisoners, but also that of the perpetrators, in particular that of the camp commandant.

The story deals with survival in the face of hopelessness in a concentration camp as well as the motives of the perpetrators, who lack all sense of right and wrong. Remarque conducted research for eight years and interviewed countless survivors.

Although he himself was never imprisoned in a camp, Remarque succeeded in producing an authentic account, verified by eyewitnesses, of the conditions in a German concentration camp. Many of the facts remain little known today and are the subjects of controversies, such as the conflicts between groups of prisoners, the existence of camp brothels for inmates or the communists’ direct conversion of the Nazi camps into camps for political opponents in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Because of its difficult subject matter, Spark of Life, despite its outstanding quality, did not receive the response it deserved during Remarque’s lifetime.