All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front ( ) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque , a German veteran of World War I . The book describes the German soldiers ' extreme physical and mental stress during the war , and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front . The novel was first published in November and December 1928 in the German newspaper " Vossische Zeitung " and in book form in late January 1929 . The book and its sequel , " The Road Back " , were among the books banned and burned in Nazi Germany . It sold 2 . 5 million copies in 22 languages in its first eighteen months in print . In 1930 , the book was adapted as an Oscar - winning film of the same name , directed by Lewis Milestone . Title and translation . The 1929 English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen gives the title as " All Quiet on the Western Front " . The literal translation of " Im Westen nichts Neues " is " Nothing New in the West , " with " West " being the Western Front ; the phrase refers to the content of an official communiqué at the end of the novel . Brian Murdoch ' s 1993 translation would render the phrase as " there was nothing new to report on the Western Front " within the narrative . Explaining his retention of the original book - title , he says : Although it does not match the German exactly , Wheen ' s title has justly become part of the English language and is retained here with gratitude . The phrase " all quiet on the Western Front " has become a colloquial expression meaning stagnation , or lack of visible change , in any context . Plot summary . The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer , a German soldier who — urged on by his school teacher — joins the German army shortly after the start of World War I . His class was " scattered over the platoons amongst Frisian fishermen , peasants , and labourers . " Bäumer arrives at the Western Front with his friends and schoolmates ( Tjaden , Müller , Kropp and a number of other characters ) . There they meet Stanislaus Katczinsky , an older soldier , nicknamed Kat , who becomes Paul ' s mentor . While fighting at the front , Bäumer and his comrades have to engage in frequent battles and endure the dangerous and often dirty conditions of warfare . At the very beginning of the book Erich Maria Remarque says " This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession , and least of all an adventure , for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it . It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who , even though they may have escaped shells , were destroyed by the war . " The book does not focus on heroic stories of bravery , but rather gives a view of the conditions in which the soldiers find themselves . The monotony between battles , the constant threat of artillery fire and bombardments , the struggle to find food , the lack of training of young recruits ( meaning lower chances of survival ) , and the overarching role of random chance in the lives and deaths of the soldiers are described in detail . The battles fought here have no names and seem to have little overall significance , except for the impending possibility of injury or death for Bäumer and his comrades . Only pitifully small pieces of land are gained , about the size of a football field , which are often lost again later . Remarque often refers to the living soldiers as old and dead , emotionally drained and shaken . " We are not youth any longer . We don ' t want to take the world by storm . We are fleeing from ourselves , from our life . We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world ; and we had to shoot it to pieces . " Paul ' s visit on leave to his home highlights the cost of the war on his psyche . The town has not changed since he went off to war ; however , he finds that he does " not belong here anymore , it is a foreign world . " He feels disconnected from most of the townspeople . His father asks him " stupid and distressing " questions about his war experiences , not understanding " that a man cannot talk of such things . " An old schoolmaster lectures him about strategy and advancing to Paris , while insisting that Paul and his friends know only their " own little sector " of the war but nothing of the big picture . Indeed , the only person he remains connected to is his dying mother , with whom he shares a tender , yet restrained relationship . The night before he is to return from leave , he stays up with her , exchanging small expressions of love and concern for each other . He thinks to himself , " Ah ! Mother , Mother ! How can it be that I must part from you ? Here I sit and there you are lying ; we have so much to say , and we shall never say it . " In the end , he concludes that he " ought never to have come [ home ] on leave . " Paul feels glad to be reunited with his comrades . Soon after , he volunteers to go on a patrol and kills a man for the first time in hand - to - hand combat . He watches the man die , in pain for hours . He feels remorse and asks forgiveness from the man ' s corpse . He is devastated and later confesses to Kat and Albert , who try to comfort him and reassure him that it is only part of the war . They are then sent on what Paul calls a " good job . " They must guard a village that is being shelled too heavily . The men enjoy themselves but while evacuating the villagers , Paul and Albert are wounded . They recuperate in a Catholic hospital and Paul returns to active duty . By now , the war is nearing its end and the German Army is retreating . In despair , Paul watches as his friends fall one by one . It is the death of Kat that eventually makes Paul careless about living . In the final chapter , he comments that peace is coming soon , but he does not see the future as bright and shining with hope . Paul feels that he has no aims left in life and that their generation will be different and misunderstood . When he dies at the end of the novel , the situation report from the frontline states , " All is Quiet on the Western Front , " symbolizing the insignificance of one individual ' s death during the war . Themes . One of the major themes of the novel is the difficulty of soldiers to revert to civilian life after having experienced extreme combat situations . Remarque comments in the preface that " [ All Quiet on the Western Front ] will try simply to tell of a generation of men who , even though they may have escaped shells , were destroyed by the war . " This internal destruction can be found as early as the first chapter as Paul comments that , although all the boys are young , their youth has left them . When on leave from the front , Paul feels strongly isolated from his family and removed from daily life . Another topic concerns how soldiers ' lives are put at risk by their commanding officers who seem unaware of the trauma of their charges . Main characters . Paul Bäumer . Paul Bäumer is the main character and narrator . At 19 years of age , Paul enlists in the German Army and is deployed to the Western Front where he experiences the severe psychological and physical effects of the war . Before the war , Paul was a creative , sensitive and passionate person , writing poems and having a clear love for his family . But as the war changed his attitude and personality , poems and other aspects of his past life become something Paul could not remember having any link to , and he learns to disconnect himself from his feelings . He feels he can ' t tell anyone about his experiences , and feels like an outsider where his family is concerned . By the end of the book , Paul realises that he no longer knows what to do with himself and decides that he has nothing more to lose . The war appears to have snuffed out his hopes and dreams , which he feels he can never regain . After years of fighting , Paul is finally killed in October 1918 , on an extraordinarily quiet , peaceful day . The army report that day contains only one phrase : “ All quiet on the Western Front . ” As Paul dies , his face is calm , “ as though almost glad the end had come . ” Albert Kropp . Kropp was in Paul ' s class at school and is described as the clearest thinker of the group . Kropp is wounded towards the end of the novel and undergoes an amputation . Both he and Bäumer end up spending time in a Roman Catholic hospital together , Bäumer suffering from shrapnel wounds to the leg and arm . Though Kropp initially plans to commit suicide if he requires an amputation , the book suggests he postponed suicide because of the strength of military camaraderie . Kropp and Bäumer part ways when Bäumer is recalled to his regiment after recovering . Paul comments that saying farewell was " very hard , but it is something a soldier learns to deal with . " Haie Westhus . Haie is described as being tall and strong , and a peat - digger by profession . Overall , his size and behavior make him seem older than Paul , yet he is the same age as Paul and his school - friends ( roughly 19 at the start of the book ) . Haie in addition has a good sense of humor . During combat , he is injured in his back , fatally ( Chapter 6 ) — the resulting wound is large enough for Paul to see Haie ' s breathing lung when Himmelstoss carries him to safety . Fredrich Müller . Müller is about 18 and a half years of age , one of Bäumer ' s classmates , when he also joins the German army as a volunteer to go to the war . Carrying his old school books with him to the battlefield , he constantly reminds himself of the importance of learning and education . Even while under enemy fire , he " mutters propositions in physics " . He became interested in Kemmerich ' s boots and inherits them when Kemmerich dies early in the novel . He is killed later in the book after being shot point - blank in the stomach with a flare gun . As he was dying " quite conscious and in terrible pain " , he gave his boots which he inherited from Kemmerich to Paul . Stanislaus " Kat " Katczinsky . Kat has the most positive influence on Paul and his comrades on the battlefield . Katczinsky was a cobbler in civilian life ; he is older than Paul Bäumer and his comrades , about 40 years old , and serves as their leadership figure . He also represents a literary model highlighting the differences between the younger and older soldiers . While the older men have already had a life of professional and personal experience before the war , Bäumer and the men of his age have had little life experience or time for personal growth . Kat is also well known for his ability to scavenge nearly any item needed , especially food . At one point he secures four boxes of lobster . Bäumer describes Kat as possessing a sixth sense . One night , Bäumer along with a group of other soldiers are holed up in a factory with neither rations nor comfortable bedding . Katczinsky leaves for a short while , returning with straw to put over the bare wires of the beds . Later , to feed the hungry men , Kat brings bread , a bag of horse flesh , a lump of fat , a pinch of salt and a pan in which to cook the food . Kat is hit by shrapnel at the end of the story , leaving him with a smashed shin . Paul carries him back to camp on his back , only to discover upon their arrival that a stray splinter had hit Kat in the back of the head and killed him on the way . He is thus the last of Paul ' s close friends to die in battle . It is Kat ' s death that eventually makes Bäumer careless whether he survives the war or not , but that he can face the rest of his life without fear . " Let the months and the years come , they can take nothing from me , they can take nothing more . I am so alone , and so without hope that I can confront them without fear . " Tjaden . One of Bäumer ' s non - schoolmate friends . Before the war Tjaden was a locksmith . A big eater with a grudge against the former postman - turned corporal Himmelstoß ( thanks to his strict ' disciplinary actions ' ) , he manages to forgive Himmelstoß later in the book . Throughout the book , Paul frequently remarks on how much of an eater he is , yet somehow manages to stay as " thin as a rake . " Tjaden appears as a well - liked school teacher in the sequel , " The Road Back " , but it is unclear whether he is the same person as in the prequel . Minor characters . Kantorek . Kantorek was the schoolmaster of Paul and his friends , including Kropp , Leer , Müller , and Behm . Behaving " in a way that cost [ him ] nothing , " Kantorek is a strong supporter of the war and encourages Bäumer and other students in his class to join the war effort . Among twenty enlistees was Joseph Behm , the first of the class to die in battle . In an example of tragic irony , Behm was the only one who did not want to enter the war . Kantorek is a hypocrite , urging the young men he teaches to fight in the name of patriotism , while not voluntarily enlisting himself . In a twist of fate , Kantorek is later called up as a soldier as well . He very reluctantly joins the ranks of his former students , only to be drilled and taunted by Mittelstädt , one of the students he had earlier persuaded to enlist . Peter Leer . Leer is an intelligent soldier in Bäumer ' s company , and one of his classmates . He is very popular with women ; when he and his comrades meet three French women , he is the first to seduce one of them . Bäumer describes Leer ' s ability to attract women by saying " Leer is an old hand at the game " . In chapter 11 , Leer is hit by a shell fragment , which also hits Bertinck . The shrapnel tears open Leer ' s hip , causing him to bleed to death quickly . His death causes Paul to ask himself , " What use is it to him now that he was such a good mathematician in school ? " Bertinck . Lieutenant Bertinck is the leader of Bäumer ' s company . His men have a great respect for him , and Bertinck has great respect for his men . He permits them to eat the rations of the men that had been killed in action , standing up to the chef Ginger who would only allow them their allotted share . Bertinck is genuinely despondent when he learns that few of his men had survived an engagement . When he and the other characters are trapped in a trench under heavy attack , Bertinck , who has been injured in the firefight , spots a flamethrower team advancing on them . He gets out of cover and takes aim on the flamethrower but misses , and gets hit by enemy fire . With his next shot he kills the flamethrower , and immediately afterwards an enemy shell explodes on his position blowing off his chin . The same explosion also fatally wounds Leer . Himmelstoß . Corporal Himmelstoß ( spelled Himmelstoss in some editions ) was a postman before enlisting in the war . He is a power - hungry corporal with special contempt for Paul and his friends , taking sadistic pleasure in punishing the minor infractions of his trainees during their basic training in preparation for their deployment . Paul later figures that the training taught by Himmelstoß made them " hard , suspicious , pitiless , and tough " but most importantly it taught them comradeship . However , Bäumer and his comrades have a chance to get back at Himmelstoß because of his punishments , mercilessly whipping him on the night before they board trains to go to the front . Himmelstoß later joins them at the front , revealing himself as a coward who shirks his duties for fear of getting hurt or killed , and pretends to be wounded because of a scratch on his face . Paul Bäumer beats him because of it and when a lieutenant comes along looking for men for a trench charge , Himmelstoß joins and leads the charge . He carries Haie Westhus ' s body to Bäumer after he is fatally wounded . Matured and repentant through his experiences Himmelstoß later asks for forgiveness from his previous charges . As he becomes the new staff cook , to prove his friendship he secures two pounds of sugar for Bäumer and half a pound of butter for Tjaden . Detering . Detering is a farmer who constantly longs to return to his wife and farm . He is also fond of horses and is angered when he sees them used in combat . He says , " It is of the vilest baseness to use horses in the war , " when the group hears several wounded horses writhe and scream for a long time before dying during a bombardment . He tries to shoot them to put them out of misery , but is stopped by Kat to keep their current position hidden . He is driven to desert when he sees a cherry tree in blossom , which reminds him of home too much and inspires him to leave . He is found by military police and court - martialed , and is never heard from again . Josef Hamacher . Hamacher is a patient at the Catholic hospital where Paul and Albert Kropp are temporarily stationed . He has an intimate knowledge of the workings of the hospital . He also has a " shooting license , " certifying him as sporadically not responsible for his actions due to a head wound , though he is clearly quite sane and exploiting his license so he can stay in the hospital and away from the war as long as possible . Franz Kemmerich . A young boy of only 19 years . Franz Kemmerich had enlisted in the army for World War I along with his best friend and classmate , Bäumer . Kemmerich is shot in the leg early in the story ; his injured leg has to be amputated , and he dies shortly after . In anticipation of Kemmerich ' s imminent death , Müller was eager to get his boots . While in the hospital , someone steals Kemmerich ' s watch from him , causing him great distress , prompting him to ask about his watch every time his friends came to visit him in the hospital . Joseph Behm . A student in Paul ' s class . Behm was the only student that was not quickly influenced by Kantorek ' s patriotism to join the war . Eventually , due to pressure from friends and Kantorek , he joins the war . He is the first of Paul ' s friends to die . He is blinded in no man ' s land and believed to be dead by his friends . The next day , when he is seen walking blindly around no - man ' s - land , it is discovered that he was only unconscious . However , he is killed before he can be rescued . Publication and Reception . From November 10 to December 9 , 1928 , All Quiet on the Western Front was published in serial form in Vossische Zeitung magazine . It was released in book form the following year to smashing success , selling a million and a half copies that same year . Although publishers had worried that interest in the Great War had waned more than 10 years after the armistice , Remarque ' s realistic depiction of trench warfare from the perspective of young soldiers struck a chord with the war ' s survivors — soldiers and civilians alike — and provoked strong reactions , both positive and negative , around the world . With All Quiet on the Western Front , Remarque emerged as an eloquent spokesperson for a generation that had been , in his own words , " destroyed by war , even though it might have escaped its shells . " Remarque ' s harshest critics , in turn , were his countrymen , many of whom felt the book denigrated the German war effort , and that Remarque had exaggerated the horrors of war in order to further his pacifist agenda . Not surprisingly , the strongest voices against Remarque came from the emerging National Socialist ( Nazi ) Party , an ultranationalist group in Germany led by the future Führer , Adolf Hitler . In 1933 , when the Nazis rose to power , All Quiet on the Western Front became one of the first " degenerate " books to be publicly burnt . However , objections to Remarque ’ s portrayal of the German army personnel during World War I were not limited to the Nazis . objected to Remarque ’ s depiction of the medical personnel as being inattentive , uncaring , or absent from frontline action . Dr . Kroner was specifically worried that the book would perpetuate German stereotypes abroad that had subsided since the First World War . He offered the following clarification : “ People abroad will draw the following conclusions : if German doctors deal with their own fellow countrymen in this manner , what acts of inhumanity will they not perpetuate against helpless prisoners delivered up into their hands or against the populations of occupied territory ? ” The horrifying answer to this question would come within decades . A fellow patient of Remarque ’ s in the military hospital in Duisberg objected to the negative depictions of the nuns and patients , and of the general portrayal of soldiers : “ There were soldiers to whom the protection of homeland , protection of house and homestead , protection of family were the highest objective , and to whom this will to protect their homeland gave the strength to endure any extremities ” . These criticisms suggest that perhaps experiences of the war and the personal reactions of individual soldiers to their experiences may be more diverse than Remarque portrays them ; however , it is beyond question that Remarque gives voice to a side of the war and its experience that was overlooked or suppressed at the time . This perspective is crucial to understanding the true effects of World War I . The evidence can be seen in the lingering depression that Remarque and many of his friends and acquaintances were suffering a decade later . In contrast , All Quiet on the Western Front was trumpeted by pacifists as an anti - war book . Remarque makes a point in the opening statement that the novel does not advocate any political position , but is merely an attempt to describe the experiences of the soldier . The main artistic criticism was that it was a mediocre attempt to cash in on public sentiment . The enormous popularity the work received was a point of contention for some literary critics , who scoffed at the fact that such a simple work could be so earth - shattering . Much of this literary criticism came from , who wrote a parody . Friedländer ’ s criticism ' s were mainly personal in nature — he attacked Remarque as being ego - centric and greedy . Remarque publicly stated that he wrote All Quiet on the Western Front for personal reasons , not for profit , as Friedländer had claimed . Adaptations . Film . In 1930 , an American film of the novel was made , directed by Lewis Milestone . The screenplay was by Maxwell Anderson , George Abbott , Del Andrews , C . Gardner Sullivan , with uncredited work by Walter Anthony and Milestone . It stars Louis Wolheim , Lew Ayres , John Wray , Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander . The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1930 for its producer Carl Laemmle Jr . , and an Academy Award for Directing for Lewis Milestone . It was the first all - talking non - musical film to win the Best Picture Oscar . It also received two further nominations : $ 3 , for Arthur Edeson , and Best Writing Achievement for Abbott , Anderson and Andrews . In June 2009 , an announcement was made that " All Quiet on the Western Front " would be remade . Director Mimi Leder was linked with the film in 2011 , but as of 2013 , the film was still listed as being in pre - production . TV film . In 1979 , the film was remade for CBS television by Delbert Mann , starring Richard Thomas of " The Waltons " as Paul Bäumer and Ernest Borgnine as Kat . The movie was filmed in Czechoslovakia . Radio . On November 9 , 2008 , a radio adaptation of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 , starring Robert Lonsdale as Paul Bäumer and Shannon Graney as Katczinsky . Its screenplay was written by Dave Sheasby and the show was directed by David Hunter . Music . Elton John ' s 1982 album , " Jump Up ! " features the song , " All Quiet On The Western Front " ( written by Elton and Bernie Taupin ) . The song is a sorrowful rendition of the novel ' s story ( " " It ' s gone all quiet on the Western Front / Male Angels sigh / ghosts in a flooded trench / As Germany dies " " ) . Theatre . In 2009 prior to a UK Tour , Nottingham Playhouse commissioned a play of the book by Robin Kingsland .