No change at the front read. Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque

No change on the Western Front. Return

No change on the Western Front

This book is neither an accusation nor a confession. This is only an attempt to tell about the generation that was destroyed by the war, about those who became its victims, even if they escaped from the shells.

We are standing nine kilometers from the front line. Yesterday we were replaced; Now our stomachs are full of beans and meat, and we all walk around full and satisfied. Even for dinner, everyone got a full pot; On top of that, we get a double portion of bread and sausage - in a word, we live well. This hasn’t happened to us for a long time: our kitchen god with his crimson, like a tomato, bald head himself offers us more food; he waves the ladle, inviting passers-by, and pours out hefty portions to them. He still won’t empty his “squeaker,” and this drives him into despair. Tjaden and Müller obtained several basins from somewhere and filled them to the brim - in reserve. Tjaden did it out of gluttony, Müller out of caution. Where everything that Tjaden eats goes is a mystery to all of us. He still remains as skinny as a herring.

But the most important thing is that the smoke was also given out in double portions. Each person had ten cigars, twenty cigarettes and two bars of chewing tobacco. Overall, pretty decent. I exchanged Katchinsky’s cigarettes for my tobacco, so now I have forty in total. You can last one day.

But, strictly speaking, we are not entitled to all this at all. The management is not capable of such generosity. We were just lucky.

Two weeks ago we were sent to the front line to relieve another unit. It was quite calm in our area, so by the day of our return the captain received allowances according to the usual distribution and ordered to cook for a company of one hundred and fifty people. But just on the last day, the British suddenly brought up their heavy “meat grinders”, most unpleasant things, and beat them on our trenches for so long that we suffered heavy losses, and only eighty people returned from the front line.

We arrived at the rear at night and immediately stretched out on our bunks to first get a good night's sleep; Katchinsky is right: the war would not be so bad if only one could sleep more. You never get much sleep on the front line, and two weeks drag on for a long time.

When the first of us began to crawl out of the barracks, it was already midday. Half an hour later, we grabbed our pots and gathered at the “squeaker” dear to our hearts, which smelled of something rich and tasty. Of course, the first in line were those who always had the biggest appetite: short Albert Kropp, the brightest head in our company and, probably for this reason, only recently promoted to corporal; Muller the Fifth, who still carries textbooks with him and dreams of passing preferential exams: under hurricane fire, he crams the laws of physics; Leer, who wears a thick beard and has a weakness for girls from brothels for officers: he swears that there is an order in the army obliging these girls to wear silk underwear, and to take a bath before receiving visitors with the rank of captain and above; the fourth is me, Paul Bäumer. All four were nineteen years old, all four went to the front from the same class.

Immediately behind us are our friends: Tjaden, a mechanic, a frail young man of the same age as us, the most gluttonous soldier in the company - for food he sits thin and slender, and after eating, he stands up pot-bellied, like a sucked bug; Haye Westhus, also our age, a peat worker who can freely take a loaf of bread in his hand and ask: “Well, guess what’s in my fist?”; Detering, a peasant who thinks only about his farm and his wife; and, finally, Stanislav Katchinsky, the soul of our squad, a man with character, smart and cunning - he is forty years old, he has a sallow face, blue eyes, sloping shoulders and an extraordinary sense of smell about when the shelling will begin, where you can get food and how It's best to hide from your superiors.

Our section headed the line that formed near the kitchen. We began to get impatient as the unsuspecting cook was still waiting for something.

Finally Katchinsky shouted to him:

- Well, open up your glutton, Heinrich! And so you can see that the beans are cooked!

The cook shook his head sleepily:

- Let everyone gather first.

Tjaden grinned:

- And we are all here!

The cook still didn't notice anything:

- Hold your pocket wider! Where are the others?

- They are not on your payroll today! Some are in the infirmary, and some are in the ground!

Upon learning of what had happened, the kitchen god was struck down. He was even shaken:

- And I cooked for a hundred and fifty people!

Kropp poked him in the side with his fist.

“That means we’ll eat our fill at least once.” Come on, start the distribution!

At that moment, a sudden thought struck Tjaden. His face, sharp as a mouse, lit up, his eyes squinted slyly, his cheekbones began to play, and he came closer:

- Heinrich, my friend, so you got bread for a hundred and fifty people?

The dumbfounded cook nodded absently.

Tjaden grabbed him by the chest:

- And sausage too?

The cook nodded again with his head as purple as a tomato. Tjaden's jaw dropped:

- And tobacco?

- Well, yes, that's it.

Tjaden turned to us, his face beaming:

- Damn it, that's lucky! After all, now everything will go to us! It will be - just wait! – that’s right, exactly two servings per nose!

But then the Tomato came to life again and said:

- It won’t work that way.

Now we, too, shook off our sleep and squeezed closer.

- Hey, carrot, why won’t it work? – asked Katchinsky.

- Yes, because eighty is not one hundred and fifty!

“But we’ll show you how to do it,” Muller grumbled.

“You’ll get the soup, so be it, but I’ll give you bread and sausage only for eighty,” Tomato continued to persist.

Katchinsky lost his temper:

“I wish I could send you to the front line just once!” You received food not for eighty people, but for the second company, that’s it. And you will give them away! The second company is us.

We took Pomodoro into circulation. Everyone disliked him: more than once, through his fault, lunch or dinner ended up in our trenches cold, very late, since even with the most insignificant fire he did not dare to move closer with his cauldron and our food bearers had to crawl much further than their brothers from other mouths. Here is Bulke from the first company, he was much better. Although he was as fat as a hamster, if necessary, he dragged his kitchen almost to the very front.

We were in a very belligerent mood, and, probably, things would have come to a fight if the company commander had not appeared at the scene. Having learned what we were arguing about, he only said:

- Yes, yesterday we had big losses...

Then he looked into the cauldron:

– And the beans seem to be quite good.

The tomato nodded:

- With lard and beef.

The lieutenant looked at us. He understood what we were thinking. In general, he understood a lot - after all, he himself came from our midst: he came to the company as a non-commissioned officer. He lifted the lid of the cauldron again and sniffed. As he left, he said:

- Bring me a plate too. And distribute portions for everyone. Why should good things disappear?

Tomato's face took on a stupid expression. Tjaden danced around him:

- It’s okay, this won’t hurt you! He imagines that he is in charge of the entire quartermaster service. Now get started, old rat, and make sure you don’t miscalculate!..

- Get lost, hanged man! - Tomato hissed. He was ready to burst with anger; everything that happened could not fit into his head, he did not understand what was going on in this world. And as if wanting to show that now everything was the same to him, he himself distributed another half a pound of artificial honey to his brother.

Today turned out to be a good day indeed. Even the mail arrived; almost everyone received several letters and newspapers. Now we slowly wander to the meadow behind the barracks. Kropp carries a round margarine barrel lid under his arm.

On the right edge of the meadow there is a large soldiers' latrine - a well-built structure under a roof. However, it is of interest only to recruits who have not yet learned to benefit from everything. We are looking for something better for ourselves. The fact is that here and there in the meadow there are single cabins intended for the same purpose. These are quadrangular boxes, neat, made entirely of boards, closed on all sides, with a magnificent, very comfortable seat. They have handles on the sides so the booths can be moved.

We move three booths together, put them in a circle and leisurely take our seats. We won't get up from our seats until two hours later.

I still remember how embarrassed we were at first, when we lived in the barracks as recruits and for the first time we had to use a common restroom. There are no doors, twenty people sit in a row, like on a tram. You can take one look at them - after all, a soldier must always be under surveillance.

In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” one of the most characteristic works of literature of the “lost generation,” Remarque depicted everyday life at the front, which preserved for soldiers only elementary forms of solidarity that united them in the face of death.

Erich Maria Remarque

No change on the Western Front

I

We are standing nine kilometers from the front line. Yesterday we were replaced; Now our stomachs are full of beans and meat, and we all walk around full and satisfied. Even for dinner, everyone got a full pot; In addition, we get a double portion of bread and sausage - in a word, we live well. This hasn’t happened to us for a long time: our kitchen god with his crimson, like a tomato, bald head himself offers us more food; he waves the ladle, inviting passers-by, and pours out hefty portions to them. He still won’t empty his “squeaker,” and this drives him into despair. Tjaden and Müller obtained several basins from somewhere and filled them to the brim - in reserve. Tjaden did it out of gluttony, Müller out of caution. Where everything that Tjaden eats goes is a mystery to all of us. He still remains as skinny as a herring.

But, strictly speaking, we are not entitled to all this at all. The management is not capable of such generosity. We were just lucky.

When the first of us began to crawl out of the barracks, it was already midday. Half an hour later, we grabbed our pots and gathered at the “squeaker” dear to our hearts, which smelled of something rich and tasty. Of course, the first in line were those who always had the biggest appetite: short Albert Kropp, the brightest head in our company and, probably for this reason, only recently promoted to corporal; Muller the Fifth, who still carries textbooks with him and dreams of passing preferential exams; under hurricane fire he crams the laws of physics; Leer, who wears a full beard and has a weakness for girls from brothels for officers; he swears that there is an army order obliging these girls to wear silk underwear, and to take a bath before receiving visitors with the rank of captain and above; the fourth is me, Paul Bäumer. All four were nineteen years old, all four went to the front from the same class.

Immediately behind us are our friends: Tjaden, a mechanic, a frail young man of the same age as us, the most gluttonous soldier in the company - for food he sits thin and slender, and after eating, he stands up pot-bellied, like a sucked bug; Haye Westhus, also our age, a peat worker who can freely take a loaf of bread in his hand and ask: “Well, guess what’s in my fist?”; Detering, a peasant who thinks only about his farm and his wife; and, finally, Stanislav Katchinsky, the soul of our squad, a man with character, smart and cunning - he is forty years old, he has a sallow face, blue eyes, sloping shoulders, and an extraordinary sense of smell about when the shelling will begin, where he can get hold of food and What's the best way to hide from your boss?

No change on the Western Front

Year and place of first publication: 1928, Germany; 1929, USA

Publishers: Impropilaen-Verlag; Little, Brown and Company

Literary form: novel

He was killed in October 1918, on one of those days when it was so quiet and calm along the entire front that military reports consisted of only one phrase: “No change on the Western Front.”

He fell face forward and lay in a sleeping position. When they turned him over, it became clear that he must not have suffered for long - he had such a calm expression on his face, as if he was even pleased that everything ended that way. (Hereinafter, the translation “All Quiet on the Western Front” - Yu. Afonkina.)

The final passage of Remarque's popular novel not only conveys the absurdity of the death of this unknown soldier, but also ironizes the reports of official wartime sources that no changes were taking place at the front, while thousands of people continued to die every day from their wounds (the German title of the novel is " Im Western Nicht Neues" translates as "nothing new in the West"). The last paragraph emphasizes the ambiguity of the title, it is the quintessence of the bitterness that fills the entire work.

Many nameless soldiers are on both sides of the trenches. They are just bodies, dumped in shell craters, mutilated, scattered haphazardly: “A naked soldier was stuck between a trunk and one branch. He still has a helmet on his head, but he has nothing else on him. There, up there, sits only half a soldier, the upper torso, without legs.” The young Frenchman fell behind during the retreat: “They cut his face with a blow from a shovel.”

Unknown soldiers - background, background. The main characters of the novel are Paul Bäumer, the narrator, and his comrades in the second company, mainly Albert Kropp, his close friend, and the group leader Stanislaus Katczynski (Kat). Katchinsky is forty years old, the rest are eighteen to nineteen. These are ordinary guys: Müller, who dreams of passing the exams; Tjaden, mechanic; Haye Westhus, peat worker; Detering, peasant.

The action of the novel begins nine kilometers from the front line. Soldiers "rest" after two weeks on the front line. Of the one hundred and fifty people who went on the attack, only eighty returned. Former idealists, they are now filled with anger and disappointment; The catalyst is a letter from Kantorek, their old school teacher. It was he who convinced everyone to volunteer for the front, saying that otherwise they would turn out to be cowards.

“They should have helped us, eighteen years old, enter the time of maturity, into the world of work, duty, culture and progress, and become mediators between us and our future. […]...deep down in our hearts we believed them. Recognizing their authority, we mentally associated knowledge of life and foresight with this concept. But as soon as we saw the first killed, this belief dissipated into dust. […] The very first artillery shelling revealed our delusion to us, and under this fire the worldview that they instilled in us collapsed.”

This motif is repeated in Paul's conversation with his parents before his departure. They demonstrate complete ignorance of the realities of war, living conditions at the front and the ordinariness of death. “The food here, of course, is worse, this is quite understandable, of course, but how could it be otherwise, the best is for our soldiers...” They argue about which territories should be annexed and how military operations should be conducted. Paul is unable to tell them the truth.

Brief sketches of soldier's life are given in the first few chapters: the inhumane treatment of recruits by corporals; the terrible death of his classmate after amputation of his leg; bread and cheese; terrible living conditions; flashes of fear and horror, explosions and screams. Experience forces them to mature, and it is not only the military trenches that cause suffering to naive recruits unprepared for such tests. The “idealized and romantic” ideas about war have been lost. They understand that “... the classical ideal of the fatherland, which our teachers painted for us, has so far found real embodiment here in such a complete renunciation of one’s personality...” They have been cut off from their youth and the opportunity to grow up normally, they do not think about the future.

After the main battle, Paul says: “Today we would wander around our native places like visiting tourists. A curse hangs over us - the cult of facts. We distinguish between things like traders and understand necessity like butchers. We stopped being careless, we became terribly indifferent. Let us assume that we remain alive; but will we live?

Paul experiences the full depth of this alienation during his leave. Despite recognition of his merits and a strong desire to join life behind the lines, he understands that he is an outsider. He can't get close to his family; Of course, he is unable to reveal the truth about his horror-filled experience, he only asks them for consolation. Sitting in a chair in his room, with his books, he tries to grasp the past and imagine the future. His front-line comrades are his only reality.

The terrible rumors turn out to be true. They are accompanied by stacks of brand new yellow coffins and extra portions of food. They come under enemy bombing. The shells shatter fortifications, crash into embankments and destroy concrete coverings. The fields are pitted with craters. Recruits lose control of themselves and are restrained by force. Those going on the attack are covered with machine gun fire and grenades. Fear gives way to anger.

“We are no longer powerless victims, lying on the scaffold awaiting our fate; now we can destroy and kill in order to save ourselves, in order to save ourselves and avenge ourselves... Huddled into a ball, like cats, we run, caught up in this wave that irresistibly carries us along, which makes us cruel, turns us into bandits, murderers, I would say - into devils, and, instilling fear, rage and thirst for life in us, increases our strength tenfold - a wave that helps us find the path to salvation and defeat death. If your father had been among the attackers, you would not have hesitated to throw a grenade at him too!”

Attacks alternate with counterattacks, and “more and more dead gradually accumulate on the crater-filled field between the two lines of trenches.” When it's all over and the company gets a break, only thirty-two people remain.

In another situation, the “anonymity” of trench warfare is broken. While scouting enemy positions, Paul is separated from his group and finds himself on French territory. He hides in an explosion crater, surrounded by exploding shells and the sounds of an advance. He is exhausted to the extreme, armed only with fear and a knife. When a body falls on him, he automatically plunges a knife into it and after that shares the crater with the dying Frenchman, he begins to perceive him not as an enemy, but as just a person. Tries to bandage his wounds. He is tormented by guilt:

“Comrade, I didn’t want to kill you. If you had jumped here again, I would not have done what I did - of course, if you had behaved prudently. But before you were just an abstract concept for me, a combination of ideas that lived in my brain and prompted me to make my decision. It was this combination that I killed. Now only I see that you are the same person as me. I only remembered that you had weapons: grenades, a bayonet; now I look at your face, think about your wife and see what we both have in common. Forgive me, comrade! We always see things too late."

There is a respite in the battle, and then they are taken out of the village. During the march, Paul and Albert Kropp are wounded, Albert seriously. They are sent to the hospital, they are afraid of amputation; Kropp loses his leg; he does not want to live as a “disabled person.” Recovering, Paul limps around the hospital, enters the wards, looking at the mutilated bodies:

“But this is only one infirmary, only one department of it! There are hundreds of thousands of them in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. How meaningless is everything that is written, done and thought about by people, if such things are possible in the world! To what extent is our thousand-year-old civilization deceitful and worthless if it could not even prevent these flows of blood, if it allowed hundreds of thousands of such dungeons to exist in the world. Only in the infirmary do you see with your own eyes what war is.”

He returns to the front, the war continues, death continues. One by one, friends die. Detering, house-crazed and dreaming of seeing the cherry tree in blossom, tries to desert but is caught. Only Paul, Kat and Tjaden remain alive. At the end of the summer of 1918, Kat is wounded in the leg, Paul tries to drag him to the medical unit. In a semi-fainting state, stumbling and falling, he reaches the dressing station. He comes to his senses and learns that Kat died while they were walking, he was hit in the head by a shrapnel.

In the fall, talk about a truce begins. Paul reflects on the future:

“Yes, they won’t understand us, because before us there is an older generation who, although they spent all these years with us at the front, already had their own family home and profession and will now again take their place in society and forget about the war, and behind them is growing a generation that reminds us of what we used to be; and for it we will be strangers, it will push us astray. We don’t need ourselves, we will live and grow old - some will adapt, others will submit to fate, and many will not find a place for themselves. Years will pass and we will leave the stage.”

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

The novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” was published in Germany in 1928, by which time the National Socialists had already become a powerful political force. In the socio-political context of the post-war decade, the novel was extremely popular: 600 thousand copies were sold before it was published in the United States. But it also caused considerable resentment. The National Socialists considered it an insult to their ideals of home and fatherland. The outrage resulted in political pamphlets directed against the book. In 1930 it was banned in Germany. In 1933, all of Remarque's works went to the infamous bonfires. On May 10, the first large-scale demonstration took place in front of the University of Berlin, students collected 25 thousand volumes of Jewish authors; 40 thousand “unenthusiastic” people watched the action. Similar demonstrations took place at other universities. In Munich, 5 thousand children took part in a demonstration during which books branded as Marxist and anti-German were burned.

Remarque, undeterred by the vicious protests against his books, published a continuation of the novel in 1930, “The Return.” In 1932, he fled Nazi persecution to Switzerland and then to the United States.

Bans also took place in other European countries. In 1929, Austrian soldiers were forbidden to read the book, and in Czechoslovakia it was removed from military libraries. In 1933, the translation of the novel was banned in Italy for anti-war propaganda.

In 1929, in the United States, the publishers Little, Brown and Company agreed with the recommendations of the Book of the Month Club jury, who chose the novel as the book of June, to make some changes to the text; they crossed out three words, five phrases and two entire episodes: one about a temporary restroom and a scene in a hospital when a married couple, who have not seen each other for two years, make love. The publishers argued that “some words and expressions are too crude for our American edition” and without these changes there could be problems with federal and Massachusetts laws. A decade later, another case of text censorship was made public by Remarque himself. Putnam refused to publish the book in 1929, despite its enormous success in Europe. As the author says, “some idiot said that he would not publish the book of the Hun.”

However, All Quiet on the Western Front was banned in 1929 in Boston on the grounds of obscenity. That same year, in Chicago, US Customs seized copies of the English translation of the book, which had not been “edited.” In addition, the novel is listed as banned in the People for the American Way's study of school censorship, "Assaults on Freedom of Education, 1987-1988"; The reason here was “indecent language.” Censors are being asked to change tactics and use these protests instead of traditional accusations such as “globalism” or “far-right scare talk.” Jonathan Green, in his Encyclopedia of Censorship, names All Quiet on the Western Front as one of the “especially frequently” banned books.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with what was written in 1929 and read its summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is the title of the novel that interests us. The author of the work is Remarque. The writer's photo is presented below.

The following events begin the summary. "All Quiet on the Western Front" tells the story of the height of the First World War. Germany is already fighting against Russia, France, America and England. Paul Boyler, the narrator of the work, introduces his fellow soldiers. These are fishermen, peasants, artisans, schoolchildren of various ages.

The company rests after the battle

The novel tells about soldiers of one company. Omitting the details, we have compiled a brief summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is a work that mainly describes a company, which included the main characters - former classmates. It has already lost almost half of its members. The company is resting 9 km from the front line after meeting with the British guns - “meat grinders”. Because of the losses suffered during the shelling, the soldiers receive double portions of smoke and food. They smoke, eat, sleep and play cards. Paul, Kropp and Müller head to their wounded classmate. These four soldiers ended up in one company, persuaded by their class teacher Kantorek, with his “sincere voice.”

How Joseph Bem was killed

Joseph Böhm, the hero of the work “All Quiet on the Western Front” (we describe the summary), did not want to go to war, but, fearing refusal to cut off all paths for himself, he signed up, like others, as a volunteer. He was one of the first to be killed. Because of the wounds he received in his eyes, he was unable to find shelter. The soldier lost his bearings and was eventually shot. Kantorek, a former mentor to soldiers, sends his regards to Kropp in a letter, calling his comrades “iron guys.” So many Kantoreks fool young people.

Death of Kimmerich

Kimmerich, another of his classmates, was found by his comrades with an amputated leg. His mother asked Paul to look after him, because Franz Kimmerich was “just a child.” But how can this be done on the front lines? One look at Kimmerich is enough to understand that this soldier is hopeless. While he was unconscious, someone stole his favorite watch, received as a gift. There were, however, some good leather English knee-length boots left, which Franz no longer needed. Kimmerich dies in front of his comrades. The soldiers, depressed by this, return to the barracks with Franz's boots. Kropp becomes hysterical on the way. After reading the novel on which the summary is based ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), you will learn the details of these and other events.

Replenishment of the company with recruits

Arriving at the barracks, the soldiers see that they have been replenished with new recruits. The living replaced the dead. One of the new arrivals says that they ate only rutabaga. Kat (the breadwinner Katchinsky) feeds the guy beans and meat. Kropp offers his own version of how combat operations should be conducted. Let the generals fight on their own, and the one who wins will declare his country the winner of the war. Otherwise it turns out that others are fighting for them, those who do not need the war at all, who did not start it.

The company, replenished with recruits, goes to the front line for sapper work. The recruits are taught by the experienced Kat, one of the main characters in the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (the summary only briefly introduces readers to him). He explains to recruits how to recognize explosions and shots and how to avoid them. He assumes, having listened to the “roar of the front,” that they will “be given a light at night.”

Reflecting on the behavior of soldiers on the front line, Paul says that they are all instinctively connected to their land. You want to squeeze into it when shells whistle overhead. The earth appears to the soldier as a reliable intercessor; he confides his pain and fear to her with a cry and a groan, and she accepts them. She is his mother, brother, only Friend.

Night shelling

As Kat thought, the shelling was very dense. The pops of exploding chemical shells are heard. Metal rattles and gongs announce: “Gas, gas!” The soldiers have only one hope - the tightness of the mask. All funnels are filled with “soft jellyfish”. We need to get up, but there is artillery fire there.

The comrades count how many people from their class are left alive. 7 killed, 1 in a mental hospital, 4 wounded - a total of 8. Respite. A wax lid is attached above the candle. Lice are dumped there. During this activity, the soldiers reflect on what each of them would do if there was no war. The former postman, and now the main torturer of the guys during the Himmelstoss exercises, arrives at the unit. Everyone has a grudge against him, but his comrades have not yet decided how to take revenge on him.

The fighting continues

The preparations for the offensive are further described in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Remarque paints the following picture: coffins smelling of resin are stacked in 2 tiers near the school. Corpse rats have bred in the trenches, and they cannot be dealt with. It is impossible to deliver food to the soldiers due to the shelling. One of the recruits has a seizure. He wants to jump out of the dugout. The French attack, and the soldiers are pushed back to a reserve line. After a counterattack, they return with the spoils of booze and canned food. There is continuous shelling from both sides. The dead are placed in a large crater. They are already lying here in 3 layers. All living things became stupefied and exhausted. Himmelstoss is hiding in a trench. Paul forces him to attack.

Only 32 people remained from a company of 150 soldiers. They are being taken further to the rear than before. Soldiers smooth out the nightmares of the front with irony. This helps to escape from insanity.

Paul goes home

In the office where Paul was summoned, he is given travel documents and a vacation certificate. He looks at the “border pillars” of his youth from the window of his carriage with excitement. Here, finally, is his house. Paul's mother is sick. Showing feelings is not customary in their family, and the mother’s words “my dear boy” say a lot. The father wants to show his friends his son in uniform, but Paul does not want to talk to anyone about the war. The soldier craves solitude and finds it over a glass of beer in quiet corners of local restaurants or in his own room, where the atmosphere is familiar to him to the smallest detail. His German teacher invites him to the beer hall. Here, patriotic teachers, acquaintances of Paul, talk brilliantly about how to “beat up the Frenchman.” Paul is treated to cigars and beer, while plans are made on how to take over Belgium, large areas of Russia and the coal areas of France. Paul goes to the barracks where the soldiers were trained 2 years ago. Mittelstedt, his classmate, who was sent here from the infirmary, reports the news that Kantorek has been taken into the militia. According to his own scheme, the class teacher is trained by a career military man.

Paul is the main character of the work "All Quiet on the Western Front." Remarque writes about him further that the guy goes to Kimmerich’s mother and tells her about the instant death of her son from a wound to the heart. The woman believes his convincing story.

Paul shares cigarettes with Russian prisoners

And again the barracks, where the soldiers trained. Nearby there is a large camp where Russian prisoners of war are kept. Paul is on duty here. Looking at all these people with the beards of the apostles and childish faces, the soldier reflects on who turned them into murderers and enemies. He breaks his cigarettes and passes them in half to the Russians through the net. Every day they sing dirges, burying the dead. Remarque describes all this in detail in his work (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The summary continues with the arrival of the Kaiser.

Arrival of the Kaiser

Paul is sent back to his unit. Here he meets with his people. They spend a week racing around the parade ground. On the occasion of the arrival of such an important person, soldiers are given a new uniform. The Kaiser doesn't impress them. Disputes are beginning again about who is the initiator of wars and why they are needed. Take, for example, the French worker. Why would this man fight? The authorities decide all this. Unfortunately, we cannot dwell in detail on the author’s digressions when compiling a summary of the story “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Paul kills a French soldier

There are rumors that they will be sent to fight in Russia, but the soldiers are sent to the front line, into the thick of it. The guys go on reconnaissance. Night, shooting, rockets. Paul is lost and does not understand which direction their trenches are located. He spends the day in a crater, in mud and water, pretending to be dead. Paul has lost his pistol and is preparing a knife in case of hand-to-hand combat. A lost French soldier falls into his crater. Paul rushes at him with a knife. When night falls, he returns to the trenches. Paul is shocked - for the first time in his life he killed a man, and yet he, in essence, did nothing to him. This is an important episode of the novel, and the reader should certainly be informed about it when writing a summary. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (its fragments sometimes perform an important semantic function) is a work that cannot be fully understood without turning to the details.

Feast in Time of Plague

Soldiers are sent to guard a food warehouse. From their squad, only 6 people survived: Deterling, Leer, Tjaden, Müller, Albert, Kat - all here. In the village, these heroes of the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque, briefly presented in this article, discover a reliable concrete basement. Mattresses and even an expensive bed made of mahogany, with feather beds and lace are brought from the homes of escaped residents. Kat and Paul go on reconnaissance around this village. She is under heavy fire from In the barn they discover two frolicking piglets. There's a big treat ahead. The warehouse is dilapidated, the village is burning due to shelling. Now you can get anything you want from it. Passing drivers and security guards take advantage of this. Feast in Time of Plague.

Newspapers report: "No change on the Western Front"

Maslenitsa ended in a month. Once again the soldiers are sent to the front line. The marching column is being fired upon. Paul and Albert end up in the monastery infirmary in Cologne. From here the dead are constantly being taken away and the wounded are being brought back again. Albert's leg is amputated all the way down. After recovery, Paul is again on the front line. The position of the soldiers is hopeless. French, English and American regiments advance on the battle-weary Germans. Muller was killed by a flare. Kat, wounded in the shin, is carried out from under fire on his back by Paul. However, while running, Kata is wounded in the neck by a shrapnel, and he still dies. Of all his classmates who went to war, Paul was the only one left alive. There is talk everywhere that a truce is approaching.

In October 1918, Paul was killed. At this time it was quiet, and military reports came in as follows: “No change on the Western Front.” The summary of the chapters of the novel that interests us ends here.

"All Quiet on the Western Front"(German: Im Westen nichts Neues - “ No change in the West") is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, published in 1929. In the preface the author says: “This book is neither an accusation nor a confession. This is only an attempt to tell about the generation that was destroyed by the war, about those who became its victims, even if they escaped from the shells.” The title of the novel is a slightly modified formula from German reports on the progress of military operations on the Western Front.

The anti-war novel tells about everything experienced at the front by the young soldier Paul Bäumer, as well as his front-line comrades in the First World War. Like Ernest Hemingway, Remarque used the concept of “lost generation” to describe young people who, due to mental trauma they received in the war, were unable to settle into civilian life. Remarque's work thus stood in sharp contradiction with the right-wing conservative military literature that prevailed during the era of the Weimar Republic, which, as a rule, tried to justify the war lost by Germany and glorify its soldiers.

Remarque describes the events of the war from the perspective of a simple soldier.

Publication history

The writer offered his manuscript “All Quiet on the Western Front” to the most authoritative and famous publisher in the Weimar Republic, Samuel Fischer. Fisher confirmed the high literary quality of the text, but refused publication on the grounds that in 1928 no one would want to read a book about the First World War. Fischer later admitted that this was one of the most significant mistakes of his career.

Following the advice of his friend, Remarque brought the text of the novel to the publishing house Haus Ullstein, where, by order of the company's management, it was accepted for publication. On August 29, 1928, a contract was signed. But the publisher was also not entirely sure that such a specific novel about the First World War would be a success. The contract contained a clause according to which, if the novel was not successful, the author must work off the costs of publication as a journalist. To be on the safe side, the publishing house provided advance copies of the novel to various categories of readers, including veterans of the First World War. As a result of critical comments from readers and literary scholars, Remarque is urged to rework the text, especially some particularly critical statements about the war. A copy of the manuscript that was in the New Yorker speaks about the serious adjustments to the novel made by the author. For example, the latest edition lacks the following text:

We killed people and made war; we cannot forget about this, because we are at an age when thoughts and actions had the strongest connection with each other. We are not hypocrites, we are not timid, we are not burghers, we keep our eyes open and do not close our eyes. We do not justify anything by necessity, idea, Motherland - we fought people and killed them, people we did not know and who did nothing to us; what will happen when we return to our previous relationships and confront people who interfere with us and hinder us?<…>What should we do with the goals that are offered to us? Only memories and my vacation days convinced me that the dual, artificial, invented order called “society” cannot calm us down and will not give us anything. We will remain isolated and we will grow, we will try; some will be quiet, while others will not want to part with their weapons.

Original text (German)
Wir haben Menschen getötet und Krieg geführt; Das ist für uns nicht zu vergessen, denn wir sind in dem Alter, wo Gedanke und Tat wohl die stärkste Beziehung zueinander haben. Wir sind nicht verlogen, nicht ängstlich, nicht bürgerglich, wir sehen mit beiden Augen und schließen sie nicht. Wir entschuldigen nichts mit Notwendigkeit, mit Ideen, mit Staatsgründen, wir haben Menschen bekämpft und getötet, die wir nicht kannten, die uns nichts taten; was wird geschehen, wenn wir zurückkommen in frühere Verhältnisse und Menschen gegenüberstehen, die uns hemmen, hinder und stützen wollen?<…>Was wollen wir mit diesen Zielen anfangen, die man uns bietet? Nur die Erinnerung und meine Urlaubstage haben mich schon überzeugt, daß die halbe, geflickte, künstliche Ordnung, die man Gesellschaft nennt, uns nicht beschwichtigen und umgreifen kann. Wir werden isoliert bleiben und aufwachsen, wir werden uns Mühe geben, manche werden still werden und manche die Waffen nicht weglegen wollen.

Translation by Mikhail Matveev

Finally, in the fall of 1928, the final version of the manuscript appeared. November 8, 1928, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the armistice, Berlin newspaper "Vossische Zeitung", part of the Haus Ullstein concern, publishes a “preliminary text” of the novel. The author of “All Quiet on the Western Front” appears to the reader as an ordinary soldier, without any literary experience, who describes his experiences of the war in order to “speak out” and free himself from mental trauma. The introduction to the publication was as follows:

Vossische Zeitung feels “obligated” to open this “authentic”, free and thus “genuine” documentary account of the war.

Original text (German)
Die Vossische Zeitung fühle sich „verpflichtet“, diesen „authentischen“, tendenzlosen und damit „wahren“ dokumentarischen über den Krieg zu veröffentlichen.

Translation by Mikhail Matveev

This is how the legend about the origin of the novel’s text and its author arose. On November 10, 1928, excerpts of the novel began to be published in the newspaper. The success exceeded the wildest expectations of the Haus Ullstein concern - the newspaper's circulation increased several times, the editor received a huge number of letters from readers admiring such an “unvarnished portrayal of the war.”

At the time of the book's release on January 29, 1929, there were approximately 30,000 pre-orders, which forced the concern to print the novel in several printing houses at once. All Quiet on the Western Front became Germany's best-selling book of all time. As of May 7, 1929, 500 thousand copies of the book had been published. The book version of the novel was published in 1929, after which it was translated into 26 languages, including Russian, in the same year. The most famous translation into Russian is by Yuri Afonkin.

After publication

The book caused a heated public debate, and its film adaptation, thanks to the efforts of the NSDAP, was banned in Germany on December 11, 1930 by the Film Control Board; the author responded to these events in 1931 or 1932 with the article “Are My Books Tendentious?” With the Nazis coming to power, this and other books by Remarque were banned, and on May 10, 1933 they were publicly burned by the Nazis. In his 1957 essay “Sight is very deceptive,” Remarque wrote about curiosity:

... despite this, I had the good fortune to once again appear on the pages of the German press - and even in Hitler’s own newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter. One Viennese writer rewrote word for word a chapter from All Quiet on the Western Front, giving it, however, a different title and a different name for the author. He sent this - as a joke - to the editor of Hitler's newspaper. The text was approved and accepted for publication. At the same time, he was given a short preface: they say, after such subversive books as All Quiet on the Western Front, here the reader is offered a story in which every line contains the pure truth. translation by E. E. Mikhelevich, 2002

Main characters

Paul Beumer- the main character on whose behalf the story is told. At the age of 19, Paul was voluntarily drafted (like his entire class) into the German army and sent to the Western Front, where he had to face the harsh realities of military life. Died on October 11, 1918.

Albert Kropp- Paul’s classmate, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “short Albert Kropp is the brightest head in our company.” Lost my leg. Was sent to the rear. One of those who went through the war.

Muller the Fifth- Paul’s classmate, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “... still carries textbooks with him and dreams of passing preferential exams; under hurricane fire he crams the laws of physics.” He was killed by a flare that hit him in the stomach.

Leer- Paul’s classmate, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “wears a thick beard and has a weakness for girls.” The same fragment that tore off Bertinka’s chin rips open Leer’s thigh. Dies from loss of blood.

Franz Kemmerich- Paul’s classmate, who served with him in the same company. Before the events of the novel, he is seriously injured, leading to the amputation of his leg. A few days after the operation, Kemmerich dies.

Joseph Boehm- Bäumer's classmate. Bem was the only one from the class who did not want to volunteer for the army, despite Kantorek's patriotic speeches. However, under the influence of his class teacher and loved ones, he enlisted in the army. Bem was one of the first to die, three months before the official draft deadline.

Stanislav Katchinsky (Kat)- served with Beumer in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “the soul of our squad, a man with character, smart and cunning - he is forty years old, he has a sallow face, blue eyes, sloping shoulders and an extraordinary nose for when the shelling will begin, where he can to get hold of food and how best to hide from the authorities.” The example of Katchinsky clearly shows the difference between adult soldiers who have extensive life experience behind them, and young soldiers for whom war is their whole life. In the summer of 1918 he was wounded in the leg, shattering the tibia. Paul managed to take him to the orderlies, but on the way Kat was wounded in the head and died.

Tjaden- one of Bäumer’s non-school friends, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “a mechanic, a frail young man of the same age as us, the most gluttonous soldier in the company - he sits down for food thin and slender, and after eating, he stands up pot-bellied like a sucked bug.” Has urinary system disorders, which is why he sometimes pees in his sleep. He went through the war to the end - one of 32 survivors from the entire company of Paul Bäumer. Appears in Remarque's next novel, "Return".

Haye Westhus- one of Bäumer’s friends, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “our peer, a peat worker who can freely take a loaf of bread in his hand and ask, “Well, guess what’s in my fist?” Tall, strong, not particularly smart, but a young man with a good sense of humor. He was carried out from under fire with a torn back. Died.

Detering- one of Bäumer’s non-school friends, who served with him in the same company. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “a peasant who thinks only about his farm and his wife.” Deserted to Germany. Was caught. Further fate is unknown.

Kantorek- class teacher of Paul, Leer, Müller, Kropp, Kemmerich and Böhm. At the beginning of the novel, Paul describes him as follows: “a stern little man in a gray frock coat, with a face like a mouse.” Kantorek was an ardent supporter of the war and encouraged all his students to volunteer for the war. Later he himself ended up in the army, and even under the command of his former student. Further fate is unknown.

Bertink- Paul's company commander. Treats his subordinates well and is loved by them. Paul describes him as follows: “a real front-line soldier, one of those officers who are always ahead of any obstacle.” While saving the company from a flamethrower, he received a through wound in the chest. My chin was torn off by a shrapnel. Dies in the same battle.

Corporal Himmelstoss- commander of the department in which Bäumer and his friends underwent military training. Paul describes him as follows: “He was reputed to be the most ferocious tyrant in our barracks and was proud of it. A small, stocky man who had served for twelve years, with a bright red, curled mustache, a former postman.” He was especially cruel to Kropp, Tjaden, Bäumer and Westhus. Later he was sent to the front in Paul's company, where he tried to make amends. He helped carry out Haye Westhus when his back was torn, and then he replaced the cook who went on vacation. Further fate is unknown.

Joseph Hamacher- one of the patients of the Catholic hospital in which Paul Beumer and Albert Kropp were temporarily housed. He is well versed in the work of the hospital, and, in addition, has “absolution of sins.” This certificate, issued to him after being shot in the head, confirms that at times he is insane. However, Hamacher is completely mentally healthy, and uses the evidence to his advantage.

Publications in Russia

In the USSR, it was first published in Roman-Gazeta No. 2 (56) for 1930, translated by S. Myatezhny and P. Cherevin under the title “All Quiet in the West.” Because of Radek's preface, after 1937 editions of this translation ended up in the Spetskhran. In the 1959 edition (translated by Yu. Afonkin), the novel is titled “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

Film adaptations

The work has been filmed several times.

Soviet writer Nikolai Brykin wrote a novel about the First World War, entitled “Changes on the Eastern Front” (1975).