All Quiet on the Western Front

Characters:

Paul Baumer- Narrator of the Novel.  He goes from being a kind compassionate young man, to being almost careless due to the horror of war.

Katczinsky- Pauls Best Friend and is also in his company.  Kat is 40 in the beginning of the book and has a family at home.  He is also very resourceful. 

Himmelstoss- Known as one of the strictest disciplinarian, from the No. 9 Platoon

Kropp- One of Pauls classmates and serves with Paul in the second company.  Other than Kat, Kropp is also one of Pauls close friends.

Muller- One of Pauls Classmates

Tjaden- Pauls friend in the second company, and is not a fan of Himmelstoss

Kantorek- pressures Paul and classmates to enlist in the army, strict schoolmaster in high school

Kemmerich- Pauls friend who dies from gangrene after his leg is amputated, and it shows the meaninglessness of death in war.

Behm- First of Pauls Classmates to die

Detering- One of Pauls close friends who is constantly homesick for his wife and farm

Duval- The French Soldier Paul killed in No Man’s Land.  Causing Pauls most traumatic experience in the war

Leer- One of Pauls close friends in the second company.  And the first in Pauls class to lose his virginity

Mittelstaedt- One of Pauls Classmates who become a training officer and loves tormenting Kantorek

Role of Kemmerich:

                I don’t understand why my fellow comrades are acting somewhat distant towards me.  I feel as if they are hiding something for me and I would like for someone to make me aware of what is going on.  But honestly one of my biggest worries is where my watch went.   I’m curious as to why Muller asks me if they can keep my boots, one of my most prized possessions.  Paul promises me that he will be coming back in the morning to visit me as they are leaving. When he does return in the morning I have become aware of the hospital amputating my leg.  Paul makes me mindful that in a few days I will be going home, but as for me I have doubt.  After finding out that my leg was amputated I gave my boots to Paul to give to Muller, seeing as I will have no use for them.  Other than being concerned about my leg, I still question as to where my watch could be.  So many emotions run through my head, but I know this is the end for me, no matter what Paul tries to say otherwise. 

Chapter 12 Summary:

The time of year is autumn, and Paul is the last of his seven classmates left.  He has 14 days of leave due to swallowing gas.  He feels weary of going home seeing as he has no goals, and feels as if he will not be able to find his way.  Paul thinks that his generation will be practically invisible seeing as the generation before already has an occupation and life planned out, and the generation after his will act “strange.”  In October of 1918 Paul was killed.  The expression on his face was calm, almost as if he couldn’t be happier his life had finally come to an end after a few years of a war that wrecked him. 

The emotions of War “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque

          My own interpretation of the book is the emotion war has on a person.  The whole book is based on the German war in WWI, with Paul Baumer the main character narrating his experience serving as a young man at the age of 19.  Paul and many of his friends from high school join the army willingly.  In the book they experience many deaths as all of Paul’s friends even their commander eventually all die in the War.  The book shows many different emotions.  It shows a mix of being strong willed, sadness, fear, surprise, and even some happiness. You can tell that the soldiers grew a strong bond with one another.  

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg- Capital Stuttgart

The City that I choose to do was Baden-Württemberg.  The reason I picked this city is because my ancestors came from the city Freiburg, which is in Baden-Württemberg.  This state is located in southwestern part of Germany.  Baden- Württemberg Clip: is the third largest in both area and population of Germany’s sixteen states, with an area of 35,742 square kilometers and 10.7 million inhabitants. End Clip[i]  One of the most industrialized states in Germany is Baden-Württemberg.  Its main industry is woodworking.  Clip: Anyone driving through the Black Forest region will see piles of logs being cured, and every town has a saw mill. End Clip [ii]  Baden-Württemberg has a total of 35 districts, also includes nine independent cities. The largest city in the State of Baden- Württemberg is the capital Stuttgart. [iii] Clip:  It has close to 600,000 inhabitants within the city limits and 2.7 million in the larger Stuttgart region. End Clip. [iv]  Clip: After World War II, Allied forces established three federal states: Württemberg-Hohenzollern, Baden (both occupied by France), and Württemberg-Baden (US-occupied). In 1949, these three states became founding members of the Federal Republic of Germany. End Clip[v]  There was a lot of interesting information that I found about the culture of Baden-Württemberg, but the most interesting thing that stuck out to me is the tourist attractions.  Clip:  Main sights include the capital and biggest city, Stuttgart... its inner city parks and historic Wilhelma zoo, its castles (such as Castle Solitude), its (car and art) museums as well as a rich cultural programme (theatre, opera) and mineral spring baths in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.  End Clip I  

Picture courtesy of
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=map+of+baden+wurttemberg&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=DpW9maQ-DAEaMM:&imgrefurl=http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Germany/baden-wuerttemberg.htm&docid=Im1NDRsAat4fvM&w=234&h=234&ei=5BhxToG4H8i3sQLUtK2_CQ&zoom=1

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[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg 09/13/2011

[ii] http://www.tompgalvin.com/places/de/baden_wuerttemberg/1_de_bw.htm  09/13/2011

[iii] http://oregonabroad.ous.edu/countries/germany/bw/living.html  09/13/2011

[iv] http://oregonabroad.ous.edu/countries/germany/bw/living.html#stuttgart  09/13/2011

[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg  09/13/2011

German States-- Hamburg, Bremen, Nordrhein-Westfalen

Hamburg:


Clip: The history the Hamburg begins with its foundation in the 9th century as a mission settlement to convert the Saxons. End Clip (i)  Hamburg is the Clip: Second Largest City in Germany End Clip (i) Clip: More than 1.8 million people live in Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city. End Clip (ii) Clip: Major Transportation Hub in Northern Germany End Clip (iii) Clip: Hamburg is located on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, directly between Continental Europe to its south, Scandinavia to its north, the North Sea to its west, and the Baltic Sea to its east.  Hamburg is 755 km² (291.5 sq mi) The most significant economic unit for Hamburg is the Port of Hamburg, which ranks 3rd only to Rotterdam and Antwerp in Europe and 9th worldwide with transshipments of 9.8 million Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of cargo and 134 million tons of goods in 2007.  Hamburg was in the British Zone of Occupation and became a state of the then Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. End Clip (i)


Bremen

Bremen was founded by George Berry in the year of 1834.  Following behind Hamburg, Bremen has the second largest port in Germany.  “Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany” with a total population of 548 thousand people. (iv) Clip: In 1949 the city-state joined the then West German Federal Republic of Germany End Clip (v) One thing I found really interesting after looking at the map of Germany, is Bremen is a state inside another state. 

Nordrhein-Westfalen

With more than 18 million people Nordrhein-Westfalen makes up the largest federal state population in Germany.  Nordrhen- Westfalen takes up 34,084.13 km² (13,160 sq mi) of Germany.  The State was   established by the British military administrations on 23 August 1946  Clip: The state is currently run by a Red-green alliance with the Social Democrats as the senior coalition partner and The Greens as the junior coalition partner. End Clip (vi) Something I found interesting was the flag of Nordrhein- Westfalen Clip:The flag of North Rhine-Westphalia is green-white-red with the combined coats of arms of the Rhineland (white line before green background, symbolizing the river Rhine), Westfalen (the white horse) and Lippe (the red rose).End Clip (vi)

picture courtesy of  http://www.maps-of-germany.co.uk/

i http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg 09/05/11
ii http://www.gahf.ghorfa.de/about_us.html 09/09/11
iii http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/europe/european-union/germany/hamburg/ 09/05/11
iv http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen 09/09/11
v http://www.answers.com/topic/bremen-geogeur-in-encyclopedia-1 09/09/11
vi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia