Monday, April 23, 2018

1804 Remembering shared humanity on Anzac Day

AUSTRALIA





Remembering shared humanity on Anzac Day

Andrew Hamilton
22 April 2018
8 Comments

My childhood was spent near Anzac Hostel, a repatriation centre for invalided soldiers, predominantly from the First World War. It was a towered white building on a large block of land surrounded by Moreton Bay figs, a gathering place for cicadas in summer.

I was torn between the desire to sneak into the property in the hope of being able to boast that I had seen greengrocers, orange drummers, redeyes and other colourfully named cicadas, and my fear of the men in the hostel, whom people described as shell-shocked or damaged. They, and the Western Australian flowering gums along the road, each of which bore the name of an Australian soldier killed in the war, were the physical reminders of war and of Anzac Day in particular.

Even to children these things intimated a reality only later to be entered: the sadness of war. As did the Anzac Day celebrations, largely composed of fellow soldiers and those who had lost husbands, brothers, fathers and lovers in the war.
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Today the celebration of Anzac Day has changed notably. Its participants encompass soldiers who have fought in a variety of wars since 1945, their relatives and descendants, and people who find the rituals of the day moving and encouraging. 
  • The focus of the day has switched 
  • from honouring and grieving the soldiers who died at Anzac Cove and in the trenches 
  • to honouring and celebrating the heroism of all those who have fought in the Australian armed forces.

Anzac Day has also been increasingly used as a commonplace by politicians for praising distinctively Australian values. They have accordingly spent heavily on facilities for remembering the war, focused on the site of the battle rather than on the hometowns of those who grieve, and often yielded to the temptation to glorify war.

The change of focus has not been universally accepted. The tension between remembering those who have died in battle and celebrating those who have fought in battles makes the celebration of Anzac Day inherently controversial. It is seen by many to canonise military values.

I believe that the risk is less to glorify war than to sanitise it by allowing time and space to take away its physical reality, and with it the sadness of war. The relationships involved in it are reduced to those that link soldiers on the battlefield to one another and to those at home who support them faithfully.

"Anzac Day is an occasion for dwelling compassionately on the things that bind us together, not those that separate us into allies and enemies."



If we celebrate Anzac Day we should be drawn to reflect on the full range and power of relationships involved in war. That means keeping in mind the relatives and friends of those who fought, not simply at Anzac Cove but in all Australian military actions, and especially the families who lost husbands, sons and brothers. We should also hold these relationships in our imagination, not simply at the moment when people fought, were wounded, died or survived, but afterwards.

Our reflection should include the way in which soldiers who survived negotiated the changed relationships with families, friends and lovers when they returned. It should encompass also the way in which the lives of families were devastated by the loss of children, lovers or parents, were affected by fathers returning with symptoms of stress and addiction and by the violence which sometimes accompanied it.

It should include, too, the long, dependent lives of those at Anzac Hostel and elsewhere who were so affected by physical or mental illness as a result of their war service that they lived the rest of their life in institutions or home care.

If we hold in our imagination those Australians who fought in war and the complex relationships that frame their lives, we should remember also the young people, women and children today around the world who are drawn into suffering or inflicting the horrors of war by necessity and not by choice.


On Anzac Day we should celebrate, not the achievements, but the humanity of soldiers recently caught in war, and be encouraged to attend to their welfare, especially to the hardest affected among them.

In a society and world in which military metaphors and binary choices are extended increasingly to international relationships, immigration, customs, policing and welfare, Anzac Day is an occasion for dwelling compassionately on the things that bind us together, not those that separate us into allies and enemies. It is a time for children to visit boldly those who live in the Anzac Hostels of our day and for both together to delight in the variety and the sound of cicadas.




Andrew Hamilton is consulting editor of Eureka Street.
Main image: A ward for the totally and permanently incapacitated in an Anzac Hostel, 1919 (National Archives of Australia)


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EXISTING COMMENTS

"On Anzac Day we should celebrate, not the achievements, but the humanity of soldiers recently caught in war, and be encouraged to attend to their welfare, especially to the hardest affected among them." I wholeheartedly agree. As a primary schoolboy I can remember singing "Abide with me" and "O God our help in ages past" in a school choir, as old diggers walked up or were wheeled up to the cenotaph to place flowers. Their wives, kids and grandkids etc. were part of the scenery, but it was the gnarled old blokes, weeping or blankfaced, who freaked me out. As I grew older and marched in parades, and later served in the Army reserves, the futility of war and the horrors they endured became clearer. Thank you, Andrew, for writing these words: "In a society and world in which military metaphors and binary choices are extended increasingly to international relationships, immigration, customs, policing and welfare, Anzac Day is an occasion for dwelling compassionately on the things that bind us together, not those that separate us into allies and enemies." My boy played the Last Post at his school this morning, as I, and my father in his time, had done before him. We've talked it out, and my son knows that his maternal German great-grandfather, his Australian Pop, and his deceased paternal great-grandfathers, and other rellies, had served in different armies; yet along with their families they had all faced the prospects of the same kinds of violence and horrors. Words like victory and defeat ring hollow when you look in the faces of the survivors.
Barry G | 23 April 2018


I used to say to myself, “I must go to a dawn service one day.” I never got there and now, if offered the opportunity, I would refuse. I sometimes have dinner at my local RSL but always book for after the nightly Last Post is played. I wouldn't have chosen to go otherwise but I visited Gallipoli in 2014 (some months after all the official activities) as part of an organised tour of Turkey. I was the only one of my tour group who wept. To the rest, I assume, perhaps wrongly, that the past has been “consigned to history”. I wept because my son is in the Australian Army and I could see the waste of all those lives, past, present and future. My son joined the Army completely out of the blue and said to me repeatedly when I expressed my concerns, “Mum, it's the Australian 'Defence' Force.” As it happened, he joined just before we joined (like lapdogs) the US in Iraq and as far as defence goes, it has all gone downhill from there. When my son first went to Afghanistan I told him that he should always do the right thing but he should never try to be a hero. If the worst ever befalls him, I won't be celebrating anything. He'll understand. He doesn't go in for all the glorification himself. Unlike the rest of my tour group in Turkey who are probably fairly representative of present day Australians, there is nothing like having a serving member of the armed forces in the family to live with unimaginable fear when they are deployed because the reality of war comes right into your home.
MargaretMC | 23 April 2018


This gentle reflection powerfully brings to mind the damage inflicted by war. I have attended dawn services in our town and been struck by the number of people attending and the palpable sadness. The hymn "Abide with me" a very poignant reminder of our loss. In recent days I've also been reading Kenneth Slessor's classic poem "Beach Burial", with its soft and humble beginning and ending in humanity's shared reckoning.
Pam | 23 April 2018


I would wish two things on Anzac Day. Firstly, that everyone who wants to remember the courage and valour of those who served reads Erich Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front'; it's a reminder that war is about killing and being killed. Secondly that all politicians be excluded from any active part in the commemorations; lest we forget that it was the failure of politicians that led us into most past wars and that will lead us into the next.
Ginger Meggs | 23 April 2018


Fr Andy. Thank you for your memories, and thoughts in this very fine article. And for the image of authentic, human fragility.
AO | 23 April 2018


In Australian cities this evening people will gather on Anzac Eve to commemorate all who suffered in war emphasising the need for prevention of future wars. These peace vigils organised by the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network.
Annette Brownlie | 24 April 2018


Grandfather, 3 great uncles in WW1 and Uncle in WW2. Lived with 1 great uncle as a child. He was shell shocked and shell remained in his head - it could not be removed. One great uncle permanently damaged, 1 uncle had PTSD. As an 8 year old left home at 4 am to attend the Museum ANZAC service. Cry every time when I hear that trumpet.
Noeline Champion | 24 April 2018


i am encouraged by this as i have just listened to Richard Flanagan address the National Press club.
Noel Jeffs | 24 April 2018

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All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) - Wikipedia



All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) - Wikipedia




All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



All Quiet on the Western Front

film poster
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.
Written by Maxwell Anderson(adaptation & dialogue)
George Abbott(screenplay)
Del Andrews(adaptation)
C. Gardner Sullivan(supervising story chief)
Based on All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Starring Lew Ayres
Louis Wolheim
Music by David Broekman
Cinematography Arthur Edeson
Edited by Edgar Adams

Production
company
Universal Studios
Distributed by Universal Pictures

Release date

April 21, 1930(US[1])

Running time 152 minutes[1]
133 minutes (restored)
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1.2 million[2]
Box office $1.5 million (US)[3]
$3,000,000[4](rentals)


All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 American epic pre-Code war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander.

All Quiet on the Western Front opened to wide acclaim in the United States. Considered a realistic and harrowing account of warfare in World War I, it made the American Film Institute's first 100 Years...100 Movies list in 1998. A decade later, after the same organization polled over 1,500 workers in the creative community, All Quiet on the Western Front was ranked the seventh-best American epic film.[5][6] In 1990, the film was selected and preserved by the United States Library of Congress' National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film was the first to win the Academy Awards for both Outstanding Production and Best Director.

Its sequel, The Road Back (1937), portrays members of the 2nd Company returning home after the war.



Contents [hide]
1Plot
2Cast
3Production
4Releases
5Reception
6Awards and honors
7See also
8References
9External links


Plot[edit]

Professor Kantorek gives an impassioned speech about the glory of serving in the Armyand "saving the Fatherland". On the brink of becoming men, the boys in his class, led by Paul Baumer, are moved to join the army as the new 2nd Company. Their romantic delusions are quickly broken during their brief but rigorous training under the abusive Sergeant Himmelstoss, who bluntly informs them, "You're going to be soldiers—and that's all."

The new soldiers arrive by train at the combat zone, which is mayhem, with soldiers everywhere, incoming shells, horse-drawn wagons racing about, and prolonged rain. One in the group is killed before the new recruits can reach their post, to the alarm of one of the new soldiers (Behn). The new soldiers are assigned to a unit composed of older soldiers, who are not exactly accommodating. The young soldiers find that there is no food available at the moment. They have not eaten since breakfast, but the men they have joined have not had food for two days. One of them, "Kat" Katczinsky, had gone to locate something to eat and he returns with a slaughtered hog he has stolen from a field kitchen. The young soldiers "pay" for their dinner with soaps and cigarettes.

The new recruits' first trip to the trenches with the veterans, to re-string barbed wire, is a harrowing experience, especially when Behn is blinded by shrapnel and hysterically runs into machine-gun fire. After spending several days in a bunker under bombardment, they at last move into the trenches and successfully repulse an enemy attack; they then counterattack and take an enemy trench with heavy casualties, but have to abandon it. They are sent back to the field kitchens to get their rations; each man receives double helpings, simply because of the number of dead.

The men start out eating greedily, but then settle into a satiated torpor. They hear that they are to return to the front the next day and begin a semi-serious discussion about the causes of the war and of wars in general. They speculate about whether geographical entities offend each other and whether these disagreements involve them. Tjaden speaks familiarly about himself and the Kaiser; Kat jokes that instead of having a war, they should have the leaders of Europe be stripped to their underwear and "fight it out with clubs".

One day, Corporal Himmelstoss arrives to the front and is immediately spurned because of his bad reputation; he is forced to go over the top with the 2nd Company and is promptly killed. In an attack on a cemetery, Paul stabs a French soldier, but finds himself trapped in a hole with the dying man for an entire night. Throughout the night, he desperately tries to help him, bringing him water, but fails miserably to stop him from dying. He cries bitterly and begs the dead body to speak so he can be forgiven. Later, he returns to the German lines and is comforted by Kat.

Going back to the front line, Paul is severely wounded and taken to a Catholic hospital, along with his good friend Albert Kropp. Kropp's leg is amputated, but he does not find out until some time afterwards. Around this time, Paul is taken to the bandaging ward, from which, according to its reputation, nobody has ever returned alive; but he later returns to the normal rooms triumphantly, only to find Kropp in depression.

Paul is given a furlough and visits his family at home. He is shocked by how uninformed everyone is about the actual situation of the war; everyone is convinced that a final "push for Paris" is soon to occur. When Paul visits the schoolroom where he was originally recruited, he finds Professor Kantorek prattling the same patriotic fervor to a class of even younger students. Professor Kantorek asks of Paul to detail his experience, to which the latter reveals that war was not at all like he had envisioned and mentions the deaths of his partners; this revelation upsets the professor, as well as the young students who promptly call Paul a "coward". Disillusioned and angry, Paul returns to the front and comes upon another 2nd company that is filled with new young recruits who are now disillusioned; he is then happily greeted by Tjaden. He goes to find Kat, and they discuss the inability of the people to comprehend the futility of the war. Kat's shin is broken when a bomb dropped by an aircraft falls nearby, so Paul carries him back to a field hospital - only to find that Kat has been killed by a second explosion. Crushed by the loss of his mentor, Paul leaves.

In the final scene, Paul is back on the front lines. He sees a butterfly just beyond his trench. Paul smiles and reaches out towards the butterfly, but becoming too exposed, he is shot and killed by an enemy sniper. The final shot shows the 2nd Company arriving at the front for the first time, fading out to the image of a cemetery.

Production[edit]

In the film, Paul is shot while reaching for a butterfly. This scene is different from the book, and was inspired by an earlier scene showing a butterfly collection in Paul's home. The scene was shot during the editing phase, so the actors were no longer available and Milestone had to use his own hand as Paul's.

Noted comedian ZaSu Pitts was originally cast as Paul's mother and completed the film but preview audiences, used to seeing her in comic roles, laughed when she appeared onscreen so Milestone re-shot her scenes with Beryl Mercer before the film was released. The preview audience remains the only one who saw Pitts in the role, although she does appear for about 30 seconds in the film's original preview trailer.

The film was shot with two cameras side by side, with one negative edited as a sound film and the other edited as an "International Sound Version" for distribution in non-English speaking areas.

A great number of German Army veterans were living in Los Angeles at the time of filming and were recruited as bit players and technical advisers. Around 2,000 extras were utilized during production.[7] Among them was future director Fred Zinnemann(From Here to Eternity, High Noon, Julia, A Man for All Seasons), who was fired for impudence.

See later re-releases information in the release section below.
Releases[edit]

A complete cut of the film lasting 152 minutes, silent with synchronised sound,[1] was first shown in Los Angeles on April 21, 1930 and premiered in New York on April 25, 1930.[8] A sound version was released in NYC on April 29, 1930. A 147-minute version was submitted to the British censors, which was cut to 145 minutes[9] before the film premiered in London June 14, 1930.[8] The film went on general release in the US on August 24, 1930.[1] In 1939, it was re-released as a proper sound version, which was cut down to ten reels.[1]

On its release, Variety wrote:[10]


The League of Nations could make no better investment than to buy up the master-print, reproduce it in every language, to be shown in all the nations until the word "war" is taken out of the dictionaries.

Some of the credit for the film's success has been ascribed to the direction of Lewis Milestone:


Without diluting or denying any... criticisms, it should be said that from World War I to Korea, Milestone could put the viewer into the middle of a battlefield, and make the hellish confusion of it seem all too real to the viewer. Steven Spielberg noted as much when he credited Milestone's work as partial inspiration for Saving Private Ryan ...Lewis Milestone made significant contributions to [the genre of] the war film.[11]

Later re-releases were substantially cut and the film's ending scored with new music against the wishes of director Lewis Milestone.[12] Before he died in 1980, Milestone requested that Universal fully restore the film with the removal of the end music cue. Two decades later, Milestone's wishes were finally granted when the United States Library of Congress undertook an exhaustive restoration of the film, which is vastly superior in sound and picture quality to most other extant prints, but because all complete prints of the film were lost and no longer exist, the final "complete" version now available is only 133 minutes long.[9]

The "International Sound Version", restored by the Library of Congress, premiered on Turner Classic Movies on September 28, 2011. This is an international version with intertitles and synchronized music and effects track. A new restoration of the sound version was also done in 2011. Both have now been released on Blu-ray format.
Reception[edit]

All Quiet on the Western Front received tremendous praise in the United States. In the New York Daily News, Irene Thirer wrote, "It smack [sic] of directional genius - nothing short of this; sensitive performances by a marvelous cast and the most remarkable camera work which has been performed on either silent or sound screen, round about the Hollywood studios. [...] We have praise for everyone concerned with this picture."[13] Variety lauded it as a "harrowing, gruesome, morbid tale of war, so compelling in its realism, bigness and repulsiveness".[10] However, controversy would attend the film's subject matter elsewhere, including Europe. Due to its anti-war and perceived anti-German messages, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party banned the film from Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s. During its brief run in German cinemas in the early 1930s, Nazi brownshirts under the command of Joseph Goebbels disrupted the viewings by setting off stink bombs, throwing sneezing powder in the air and releasing white mice in the theaters, eventually escalating to attacking audience members perceived to be Jewish and forcing projectors to shut down. They yelled out, "Judenfilm!" repeatedly while doing this, which translates to "Jewish film!" Goebbels wrote about one such disruption in his personal diary.[14][15]

Between the period of 1930 to 1941, this was one of many films to be banned in Australia by the Chief Censor Creswell O'Reilly. The film was also banned in Italy and Austria in 1931, with the prohibition officially raised only in the 1980s, and in Franceup to 1963.[16] The film was finally re-released in Germany on April 25, 1952, in the Capitol Theatre in West Berlin.
Awards and honors[edit]

Carl Laemmle holding the Outstanding Production Best Picture Oscar.

1929–30 Academy Awards
AwardResultWinner
Outstanding Production Won Universal (Carl Laemmle Jr., Producer)
Best Director Won Lewis Milestone
Best Writing Nominated George Abbott, Maxwell Andersonand Del Andrews
Winner was Joseph W. Farnham, Martin Flavin,Frances Marion andLennox Robinson - The Big House
Best Cinematography Nominated Arthur Edeson
Winner was Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van Der Veer - With Byrd at the South Pole


It was the first talkie war film to win Oscars.

Other wins:
1930 Photoplay Medal of Honor – Carl Laemmle Jr.
1931 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film – Sound to Lewis Milestone
1990 National Film Registry

American Film Institute recognition
100 Years...100 Movies – #54
100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
AFI's 10 Top 10 – #7 epic film
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
"And our bodies are earth. And our thoughts are clay. And we sleep and eat with death." – Nominated.
See also[edit]
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)
List of World War I films
Kelly, Andrew: All Quiet on the Western Front - the Story of a Film. (I. B. Tauris, publishers, London and New York, 1998.)
References[edit]

^ Jump up to:a b c d e All Quiet on the Western Front, afi.com; accessed March 24, 2014.
Jump up^ Box Office Information for All Quiet on the Western Front, Box Office Mojo; retrieved April 13, 2012.
Jump up^ Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937-38 (1938) p 942 accessed April 19, 2014
Jump up^ All Quiet on the Western Front, Overview Archived March 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.. Movie Guy 24/7. Retrieved April 14, 2013
Jump up^ American Film Institute (June 17, 2008). "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
Jump up^ "Top 10 Epic". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
Jump up^ TCM Notes
^ Jump up to:a b IMDb: All Quiet on the Western Front - Release Info Linked March 24, 2014
^ Jump up to:a b IMDb: All Quiet on the Western Front - Technical Specifications Linked March 24, 2014
^ Jump up to:a b "Review: 'All Quiet on the Western Front'". Variety. May 7, 1930. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
Jump up^ Mayo, Mike: War Movies: Classic Conflict on Film, Visible Ink Press, 1999
Jump up^ American Movie Classics' segments on film preservation that aired in the mid-1990s.
Jump up^ Thirer, Irene (April 30, 1930). "Raging war and soldiers struggle back home in 'All Quiet on the Western Front': 1930 review". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 3,2017.
Jump up^ David Mikies "Hollywood’s Creepy Love Affair With Adolf Hitler, in Explosive New Detail", Tablet, June 10, 2013
Jump up^ Sauer, Patrick (June 16, 2015). "The Most Loved and Hated Novel About World War I". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
Jump up^ German movie institute Archived February 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film).

All Quiet on the Western Front at the American Film Institute Catalog
All Quiet on the Western Front on IMDb
All Quiet on the Western Front at the TCM Movie Database
All Quiet on the Western Front at AllMovie
All Quiet on the Western Front at Rotten Tomatoes
Two speeches from the film in text, audio, video from AmericanRhetoric.com

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Anti-war films about World War I
War epic films
Western Front films (World War I)
Films based on German novels
Films based on military novels
Films based on works by Erich Maria Remarque
Films made before the MPAA Production Code
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award
Universal Pictures films
Films directed by Lewis Milestone
United States National Film Registry films

This page was last edited on 18 April 2018, at 07:11.

All Quiet on the Western Front - Wikipedia



All Quiet on the Western Front - Wikipedia
All Quiet on the Western Front
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about the 1929 novel. For other uses, see All Quiet on the Western Front (disambiguation).
All Quiet on the Western Front
1st edition cover
Author Erich Maria Remarque
Original title Im Westen nichts Neues
Translator A. W. Wheen
Illustrator Carl Laemmle
Cover artist Erich Maria Remarque
Country Germany
Language German
Genre War novel
Publisher Propyläen Verlag

Publication date January 29, 1929

Published in English Little, Brown and Company, 1929
Pages 200
OCLC 295972o


All Quiet on the Western Front (German: Im Westen nichts Neues, lit. 'In the West Nothing New') 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 (1930), were among the books banned and burned in Nazi Germany. All Quiet on the Western Front sold 2.5 million copies in 22 languages in its first 18 months in print.[1]

In 1930, the book was adapted as an Academy-Award-winning film of the same name, directed by Lewis Milestone. It was adapted again in 1979 by Delbert Mann, this time as a television film starring Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine.



Contents [hide]
1Title and translation
2Plot summary
3Themes
4Main characters
4.1Albert Kropp
4.2Haie Westhus
4.3Fredrich Müller
4.4Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky
4.5Tjaden
5Minor characters
5.1Kantorek
5.2Peter Leer
5.3Bertinck
5.4Himmelstoss
5.5Detering
5.6Josef Hamacher
5.7Franz Kemmerich
5.8Joseph Behm
6Publication and reception
7Adaptations
7.1Film
7.2TV film
7.3Music
7.4Radio
7.5Audiobooks
7.6Comic Book
8See also
9References
10External links


Title and translation[edit]

The 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 "In the West Nothing New," 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.[2]
Plot summary[edit]

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 (Leer, 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 treacherous and filthy conditions of trench 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 (its) shells, were destroyed by the war."[3] 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. They had been forced into the army.

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 highlight 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 supply depot in a village that was evacuated due to being shelled too heavily. During this time, the men are able to adequately feed themselves, unlike the near-starvation conditions in the German trenches. In addition, the men enjoy themselves while living off the spoils from the village and officers' luxuries from the supply depot (such as fine cigars). While evacuating the villagers (enemy civilians), Paul and Albert are taken by surprise by artillery fired at the civilian convoy and wounded by a shell. On the train back home, Albert takes a turn for the worse and cannot complete the journey, instead being sent off the train to recuperate in a Catholic hospital. Paul uses a combination of bartering and manipulation to stay by Albert's side. Albert eventually has his leg amputated, while Paul is deemed fit for service and returned to the front.

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 or goals left in life and that their generation will be different and misunderstood.

In October 1918, Paul is finally killed on a remarkably peaceful day. The situation report from the frontline states a simple phrase: "All quiet on the Western Front." Paul's corpse displays a calm expression on its face, "as though almost glad the end had come."
Themes[edit]

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 "[This book] will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war."[3] 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. In addition, the massive loss of life and negligible gains from the fighting are constantly emphasized. Soldiers' lives are thrown away by their commanding officers who are stationed comfortably away from the front, ignorant of the daily terrors of the front line.
Main characters[edit]

Cover of first English language edition. The design is based upon a German war bonds poster by Fritz Erler.
Albert Kropp[edit]

Kropp was in Paul's class at school and is described as the clearest thinker of the group as well as the smallest. Kropp is wounded towards the end of the novel and undergoes a leg amputation. Both he and Bäumer end up spending time in a 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."[4]
Haie Westhus[edit]

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 (Himmelstoss) carries him to safety.
Fredrich Müller[edit]

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 "light pistol" (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[edit]

Kat has the most positive influence on Paul and his comrades on the battlefield. Katczinsky was a cobbler (shoemaker) 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 indifferent as to whether he survives the war or not, yet certain 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[edit]

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". He appears in the sequel, The Road Back.
Minor characters[edit]
Kantorek[edit]

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[edit]

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?"[5]
Bertinck[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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 "Special Permit," certifying him as sporadically not responsible for his actions due to a head wound, though he is clearly quite sane and exploiting his permit so he can stay in the hospital and away from the war as long as possible.
Franz Kemmerich[edit]

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 that he intended to give to his mother, causing him great distress and prompting him to ask about his watch every time his friends visit him in the hospital. Paul later finds the watch and hands it over to Kemmerich's mother, only to lie and say Franz died instantly and painlessly when questioned.
Joseph Behm[edit]

A student in Paul's class who is described as youthful and overweight. Behm was the only student that was not quickly influenced by Kantorek's patriotism to join the war, but 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[edit]

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 one and a half million copies that same year. Although publishers had worried that interest in World War I 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 spokesman 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 to further his pacifist agenda. The strongest voices against Remarque came from the emerging National Socialist Partyand its ideological allies. 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;[6] in 1930 screenings of the Academy Award-winning film based on the book were met with Nazi-organized protests and mob attacks on both movie theatres and audience members.[7]

However, objections to Remarque’s portrayal of the German army personnel during World War I were not limited to the Nazis. Dr. Karl Kroner (de) 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?”[8][9]

A fellow patient of Remarque’s in the military hospital in Duisburg 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.”[9]

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.[8]

In contrast, All Quiet on the Western Front was trumpeted by pacifists as an anti-war book.[9] 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.[10]

The main artistic criticism was that it was a mediocre attempt to cash in on public sentiment.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] Much of this literary criticism came from Salomo Friedlaender, who wrote a book Hat Erich Maria Remarque wirklich gelebt?"Did Erich Maria Remarque really live?" (under pen name Mynona), which was, in its turn, criticized in: Hat Mynona wirklich gelebt? "Did Mynona really live?" by Kurt Tucholsky.[11] Friedlaender’s criticism was 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 Friedlaender had charged.[8][9] Max Joseph Wolff (de) wrote a parody titled Vor Troja nichts Neues(Compared to Troy, Nothing New) under the pseudonym Emil Marius Requark.[12]
Adaptations[edit]
Film[edit]

Poster for the movie All Quiet on the Western Front(1930), featuring star Lew Ayres
Main article: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)

In 1930, an American film of the novel was made, directed by Lewis Milestone; with a screenplay by Maxwell Anderson, George Abbott, Del Andrews, C. Gardner Sullivan; and 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., the Academy Award for Directing for Lewis Milestone, and the Academy Award for Outstanding Production. It was the first all-talking non-musical film to win the Best Picture Oscar. It also received two further nominations: Best Cinematography, for Arthur Edeson, and Best Writing Achievement for Abbott, Anderson, and Andrews.[13]

In 2016, it was confirmed that Roger Donaldson will direct a remake of All Quiet on the Western Frontstarring Travis Fimmel as Katczinsky.[14]
TV film[edit]
Main article: All Quiet on the Western Front (1979 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.[15]
Music[edit]

Elton John's album Jump Up! (1982) 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").

Bob Dylan, during his Nobel Laureate lecture, cited this book as one that had a profound effect on this songwriting.[16]
Radio[edit]

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.[17]
Audiobooks[edit]

In 2000, Recorded Books released an audiobook of the text, read by Frank Muller.[18]

In 2010, Hachette Audio UK published an audiobook adaptation of the novel, narrated by Tom Lawrence. It was well received by critics[19] and listeners.
Comic Book[edit]

in 1952, adapted into comic book form by Classics Illustrated #95, [O] - All Quiet on the Western Front[20]
See also[edit]

Novels portal
Bildungsroman
List of books with anti-war themes
References[edit]

Jump up^ Eksteins, Modris (April 1980). "All Quiet on the Western Front and the Fate of a War". Journal of Contemporary History. SAGE Publications. 15 (2): 353. doi:10.1177/002200948001500207.
Jump up^ "all quiet on the Western Front". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
^ Jump up to:a b Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. 2009. p. 48.
Jump up^ Chapter Ten of All Quiet on the Western Front
Jump up^ All Quiet on the Western Front (London: Putnam & Company Ltd, 1970 reprint), p. 240.
Jump up^ "Nov 10, 1928: Remarque publishes All Quiet on the Western Front". History.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
Jump up^ Sauer, Patrick (June 16, 2015). "The Most Loved and Hated Novel About World War I". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
^ Jump up to:a b c Patrick Clardy. "All Quiet on the Western Front: Reception". Yale Modernism Lab. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Barker, Christine R.; Last, Rex William (1979). Erich Maria Remarque. New York: Barnes & Noble Books.
Jump up^ Wagner, Hans (1991). Understanding Erich Maria Remarque. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Jump up^ Kurt Tucholsky (under pen name Ignaz Wrobel), Hat Mynona wirklich gelebt?, Die Weltbühne, December 31, 1929, No. 1, p. 15
Jump up^ Catalogue entry for Vor Troja nichts Neues in the German National Library, retrieved January 29, 2014
Jump up^ "The 3rd Academy Awards – 1931". Oscars. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
Jump up^ Kay, Jeremy. "'Warcraft' star Travis Fimmel to lead 'All Quiet On The Western Front'". ScreenDaily. MBI Ltd. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
Jump up^ "All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
Jump up^ Dylan, Bob (5 June 2017). "Bob Dylan - Nobel Lecture". www.nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 14 November 2017. ...would work its way into more than a few of my songs. All Quiet on the Western Front was another book that did.
Jump up^ "BBC Radio 3 – Drama on 3, All Quiet on the Western Front". Bbc.co.uk. November 9, 2008. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
Jump up^ "All Quiet on the Western Front". recordedbooks.com. Recorded Books. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
Jump up^ "All Quiet on the Western Front – Audiobook Reviews In All Genres". audiobookjungle.com. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
Jump up^ "GCD :: Issue :: Classics Illustrated #95 [O] - All Quiet on the Western Front". www.comics.org. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: All Quiet on the Western Front

Wikimedia Commons has media related to All Quiet on the Western Front.

CliffsNotes
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Novels by Erich Maria Remarque


The Dream Room (1920)
Gam (1924)
Station at the Horizon (1928)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
The Road Back (1931)
Three Comrades (1936)
Flotsam (1939)
Arch of Triumph (1945)
The Spark of Life (1952)
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1954)
The Black Obelisk (1956)
Heaven Has No Favorites(1961)
The Night in Lisbon (1962)
The Promised Land (1970)
Shadows in Paradise (1971)


Authority control

WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 310215030
GND: 4255329-5
SELIBR: 375208
SUDOC: 028874765
BNF: cb12061973m (data)

Categories:
1929 German language novels
20th-century German novels
Anti-war novels
Book censorship
Censorship in the arts
German novels adapted into films
Novels adapted into television programs
Novels by Erich Maria Remarque
Novels first published in serial form
Roman à clef novels
Works originally published in Vossische Zeitung
World War I novels
Novels set in Europe