In Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, protagonist Paul Bäumer communicates his experience as a young German soldier in World War I, until October of 1918. Paul’s irreverent account serves as the antithesis of the German agenda at the time. While young Paul discounts German authority, Germany seeks to promote the empire. War destroys all of Paul’s trust in the generation before him, including his own father. His mistrust extends to his schooling, as he resents the nationalistic rhetoric of his former teacher, Kantorek, and all teachers like him. In the army, Paul displays open insolence towards Corporal Himmelstoss, and other army authorities. Paul’s complete disenchantment with war leads him to criticize the the adults that lead his country, the people he holds responsible for the mess of the First World War.

Parents

As he and other young men suffer on the battle front, Paul begins to doubt the older adults who remain safely at home. Paul mentions that one school friend, Joseph Behm, initially hesitates to join the army. Paul claims, “And perhaps more of us thought as he did, but no one could very well stand out, because at that time even one’s parents were ready with the word “coward”; no one had the vaguest idea what we were in for” (p. 7). Paul laments the pressure on young men to join the war. No young man wants to seem uncooperative, or have other people, especially his parents, consider him cowardly. Paul implies that German parents, in their ignorance and patriotic zeal, betray their own children. He believes that no one at home understands the true nature of the war. When he returns home on a short leave, Paul’s father annoys him with questions. Paul says of his father, “He wants me to tell him about the front; he is curious in a way that I find stupid and distressing; I no longer have any real contact with him…I realize he does not know that a man cannot talk of such things…” (p. 90). Mr. Bäumer’s curiosity regarding the war disappoints and upsets Paul, who claims that his father’s ignorance prohibits any further meaningful interaction between father and son. Also during his leave, Paul visits the mother of a killed soldier. Kemmerich’s mother begs Paul to describe the manner of her son’s death. Paul lies and tells her a story of an instant death. Kemmerich’s mother suspects Paul, but he knows, “I will never tell her, she can make mincemeat out of me first. I pity her, but she strikes me as rather stupid all the same. Why doesn’t she stop worrying? Kemmerich will stay dead whether she knows about it or not” (p. 98). Paul’s reaction to Kemmerich’s mother shows his disdain for her. Although he claims to pity her, he seems to view her not as a grieving person he can relate to, but a pathetic figure. He considers her “stupid,” and deems her worries pointless. The ignorance, yet overwhelming support of the war that comes from German parents tarnishes Paul’s opinion of them.

Teachers

Besides the mothers and fathers in his community, Paul also comes to change his view on his education and his teachers. Several of Paul’s fellow soldiers are former classmates, and the young men talk often of their teacher, Kantorek. The young men resent Kantorek’s encouragement to join the army. Paul remembers: “…Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered…There were thousands of Kantoreks, all of whom were convinced that they were acting for the best-in a way that cost them nothing. And that is why they let us down so badly” (p. 7). Paul compares his former teacher to a shepherd - one that leads his flock into danger. Kantorek, like many other teachers, exploits the trust his students have in him. Paul’s first hand experience on the front makes him feel that the Kantorek does not paint an accurate picture of war. When Kantorek himself appears in the army, the young men disrespect him. One of Kantorek’s former students, Mittelstaedt, now leads Kantorek. Paul watches amusedly as Mittelstaedt teases Kantorek: “Territorial Kantorek, do you call those buttons polished? You seem as though you can never learn. Inadequate, Kantorek, quite inadequate…Territorial Kantorek, we have the good fortune to live in a great age, we must brace ourselves and triumph over hardship.” (pp. 95-96). The young soldier humiliates his former teacher with a public reprimand - Mittelstaedt says that Kantorek’s uniform is unacceptable and that Kantorek seems unteachable. Mittelstaedt disrespects Kantorek when he uses the teacher’s own patriotic words about good fortune, greatness, and triumph, against him. While Paul watches over starving Russian prisoners of war, Paul observes: “Any noncommissioned officer is more of an enemy to a recruit, any schoolmaster to a pupil, than they are to us” (p. 105). Paul finds the Russian prisoners more relatable and less threatening to him than a teacher in his own country. As he looks at the Russian men, Paul realizes they are not the reason he is a soldier. The trusted mentors in Paul’s own country put him in danger. Paul openly criticizes his former teacher’s support of the war, he and his friends disrespect the teacher when he arrives for duty himself, and Paul claims to regard his teacher as more of an enemy than a Russian soldier.

Army Superiors

Even German officials cannot escape Paul and his friends’ criticism. Paul divulges in detail the many ways that German Corporal Himmelstoss abuses Paul and the other soldiers of No. 9 platoon. Paul relates how the young soldiers at one point lose all respect for Corporal Himmelstoss. Finally: “…that was the end of his authority.” In training, “We obeyed each order, since an order’s an order and has to be obeyed. But we did it so slowly that Himmelstoss became desperate” (p. 15). Paul’s confession reveals his platoon’s mass defiance of command. He explicitly says that the young men cease to respect or trust Corporal Himmelstoss. While they grudgingly obey him, they do so with an unbelievable inefficiency that distresses the corporal. One of Paul’s fellow soldiers, Detering, deserts the army. Paul notices, but says nothing in order to give Detering some time to get away (p. 148). Paul understands Detering’s choice as homesickness, but the army doesn’t see it the same way: “A week after we heard that he had been caught by the field gendarmes, those despicable military police…Anyone might have known that his flight was only homesickness and a momentary aberration. But what does a court martial a hundred miles behind the front-line know about it? We have heard nothing more of Detering” (p. 148). Paul calls the German military police, “despicable,” and implies the detachment of a German military court. While Paul understands Detering’s choice as a desperate moment of weakness, he knows a court martial does not afford soldiers the same forgiveness. He mentions that the court martial, “a hundred miles behind the front-line,” is so safely removed from battle, it cannot understand Detering’s position. Paul’s contempt extends to the height of German society. When the German Kaiser comes to see the soldiers, Paul recalls: “We stand to attention and the Kaiser appears…He stalks along the line, and I am really rather disappointed; judging from his pictures I imagined him to be bigger and more powerfully built, and above all to have a thundering voice.” Upon seeing the Kaiser of Germany, Paul simply expresses his disappointment. He claims that the real Kaiser is smaller and less powerful than in his imagination. Paul clearly derides Corporals, military policemen, court martials, and even the Kaiser of Germany.

At a time when German leaders call for dedication to the fatherland, Paul Bäumer’s voice stands out in shocking defiance. Paul complains of the ignorance of German parents, including his own father, and he dismisses the mother of one of his fellow soldiers as a silly person. Paul withdraws from both his father and Kemmerich’s mother, and refuses to share with them the information they want. Paul accuses his former schoolmaster Kantorek, and other schoolmasters like him, of manipulation and the abuse of power. When Kantorek joins his former pupils in the army, Paul and others mock him. Perhaps worst of all, Paul disparages the German military. He hates his Corporal Himmelstoss, devalues the military police and court martials, and finally, speaks disrespectfully of the Kaiser. As Paul’s words destroy the images of German authority figures (the country’s parents, teachers, military leaders), the Nazis and their sympathizers later consider Paul Maria Remarque’s “Un-German” novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, a book they must burn.

References

Remarque, E. M. (2013). All quiet on the western front. Random House Trade Paperbacks.