All Quiet on the Western Front

Summary

The book opens with the narrator, Paul Bäumer, explaining how his company got extra rations after their time at the front because of the heavy loss of men they sustained. Paul goes to visit Kemmerich, a friend of his, in the hospital because he was wounded and lost his leg. Müller, another friend, wants Kemmerich’s boots because he could use them but Kemmerich can’t, but Kemmerich keeps them until he knows he is going to die.

                New recruits arrive to fill the places of the ones who died. One of Paul’s friends says the only way wars should be fought is to throw the nation’s leaders in a ring and have them take it out on each other. They go to put barbed wire on the front line again, but are shot at and take refuge in a cemetery. When they return to camp, they discuss what they will do when the war is over, and Paul reflects on his lack of identity outside of war. Paul and Kat see geese at a house and Paul kills them for a rare feast.

                A heavy fight occurs in which most of the men are killed – now there are only 32 of the original 150 left. They are given a reprieve afterwards, during which they see French girls on the opposite bank of a river, and they swim over at night to bring them food and have some fun. Paul is then given leave to go home and see his family. He cannot connect with them anymore, and cannot talk to them about what he has seen. His mother is probably dying of cancer. His former teacher, Kantorek, has been forced into the Army and is supervised by another former student, who gives him a hard time. He is temporarily assigned to a prison after his leave, and starts to sympathize with the Russians in the prison.

                Paul is sent back to his unit, near the front of the line, but has trouble finding them. During battle at the front, Paul volunteers for a mission to scope out the enemy, but gets lost on his way back and has to hide in a shell-hole, where he subsequently kills a French soldier and goes momentarily insane, talking to his body and promising him to make it up to him. They are given the easy mission of guarding an empty town with a supply depot within. Paul and his friend Kropp are wounded and bribe a doctor to put them on the same train, where they are taken to a Catholic hospital. Kropp’s leg gets amputated, and he keeps trying to kill himself. Paul recovers and eventually returns to his company. Paul’s friends start dying, the last being Kat who was pierced by a splinter as Paul carried him back. He is given a short leave to recover after a gas attack poisons him. In October of 1918, Paul is killed.

In-Class Discussion

In class we talked about why the book was significant to Germans and German culture. With the lack of details as to where and when it took place, it was highly relatable to everyone. It also discussed frequently the question of identity, and what made a man who he was. As Germans were so frequently villainized back then, they (and the rest of the world) had this on their minds. The world wanted insight as to the motivations of both the state of Germany as a whole and the “common” German soldier.

The Germans were forced to pay reparation so atone for their behavior in the First World War, which definitely laid the groundwork for Hitler’s rise to power and the Second World War. This book brings into perspective the way common German soldier felt during the war, and how they might have felt afterward and supported Hitler because of it.