All Quiet on the Western Front Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Paul Bäumer

A young German soldier who enlists with his classmates full of patriotic fervor and is slowly hollowed out by trench warfare. He survives nearly the whole war only to die on a quiet day in October 1918, his death barely registering in the official report.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down; Part 3: Leave, Loss, and the Hospital; Part 4: All Quiet
Themes:: The Destruction of Authority; Dehumanization and the Beast Within; The Absurdity of War; Brotherhood as Survival; The Lost Generation

Stanislaus Katczinsky (Kat)

A forty-year-old veteran who becomes the group's leader and father figure, with a genius for scrounging food. He is killed by a shell splinter to the back of the head while Paul carries him, unaware he is already gone.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down; Part 4: All Quiet
Themes:: Brotherhood as Survival

Albert Kropp

Paul's classmate and closest friend, sharp-tongued and clear-eyed about the absurdity of war. He loses his leg to amputation in a Catholic hospital after both are wounded by a shell fragment.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down; Part 3: Leave, Loss, and the Hospital
Themes:: The Absurdity of War; Brotherhood as Survival

Franz Kemmerich

One of Paul's schoolmates, whose slow death from a leg amputation opens the novel. His fine English leather boots pass to Müller and become the book's central symbol.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down; Part 3: Leave, Loss, and the Hospital
Themes:: Brotherhood as Survival; The Lost Generation

Müller

A pragmatic classmate who asks for Kemmerich's boots while the man is dying. He is later killed by a flare gun shot to the stomach and passes the boots to Paul.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 4: All Quiet

Corporal Himmelstoss

A brutal postman turned drill instructor who torments the recruits with sadistic drills. He later arrives at the front as a platoon commander and partially redeems himself by bringing rations to the wounded Paul and Kropp.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood; Part 3: Leave, Loss, and the Hospital

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Kantorek

The schoolmaster whose patriotic speeches push Paul and his classmates into enlisting. He later writes them a letter calling them 'Iron Youth,' a phrase that rings hollow against the deaths.

Appears in:: Part 1: Enlistment and First Blood
Themes:: The Destruction of Authority

Tjaden Stackfleet

A veteran who shares the stolen goose with Paul and Kat behind the front in Champagne. He represents the small moments of peace the men cling to between attacks.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down
Themes:: Brotherhood as Survival

Detering

A farmer haunted by cherry blossoms that remind him of his orchard at home. He deserts, is captured, and is presumably executed.

Appears in:: Part 4: All Quiet

Gérard Duval

A French printer with a wife and child whom Paul kills in a shell hole. Paul finds a photograph of the man's family in his wallet and promises to write to them but never does.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Front Grinds Them Down
Themes:: Dehumanization and the Beast Within

How they are connected

Key relationships

Stanislaus Katczinsky (Kat)Paul Bäumer
He is killed by a shell splinter to the back of the head while Paul carries him, unaware he is already gone.
Albert Kropp Paul Bäumer
Paul's classmate and closest friend, sharp-tongued and clear-eyed about the absurdity of war.
Franz Kemmerich Paul Bäumer
One of Paul's schoolmates, whose slow death from a leg amputation opens the novel.
Franz Kemmerich Müller
His fine English leather boots pass to Müller and become the book's central symbol.
Müller Paul Bäumer
He is later killed by a flare gun shot to the stomach and passes the boots to Paul.
Corporal Himmelstoss Paul Bäumer
He later arrives at the front as a platoon commander and partially redeems himself by bringing rations to the wounded Paul and Kropp.
Corporal Himmelstoss Albert Kropp
He later arrives at the front as a platoon commander and partially redeems himself by bringing rations to the wounded Paul and Kropp.
Kantorek Paul Bäumer
The schoolmaster whose patriotic speeches push Paul and his classmates into enlisting.
Tjaden Stackfleet Paul Bäumer
A veteran who shares the stolen goose with Paul and Kat behind the front in Champagne.
Tjaden Stackfleet Stanislaus Katczinsky (Kat)
A veteran who shares the stolen goose with Paul and Kat behind the front in Champagne.
Gérard Duval Paul Bäumer
A French printer with a wife and child whom Paul kills in a shell hole.

Go deeper

All Quiet on the Western Front themes & symbols

The Destruction of Authority · Dehumanization and the Beast Within · The Absurdity of War · Brotherhood as Survival

Themes explained

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