Paul Bäumer
Young and innocent Paul undergoes a tough evolution. He is only eighteen at his arrival at the frontline and the following two years had changed him drastically. Nevertheless, he strives to cling for those few things remaining from his past life and personality – books, family, his home town. By the end all he can think of is survival.
Stanislav “Kat” Katczinsky
A forty-year old former cobbler, he is a kind of a guarding angel for Paul and his schoolmates. Master of scrounge, he manages to find food and comfort everywhere. Kat is a kind of fatherly figure, always ready to offer comfort and calming words; several times Remarque shows him teaching young soldiers the survival basics. Calm, thoughtful and humorous Kat is one of the most prominent characters in Paul’s narration.
Albert Kropp
“The clearest thinker”, as Paul characterizes him, Albert is one his best friends, faithful and emotional. He is the first to point out their perspective uselessness in future life, but it does not divert him from survival and helping his friends to go on.
Himmelstoss
A true nemesis of recruits, at first Corporal Himmelstoss seems nearly a caricature. Similar characters can be found in other books of Remarque, so the author is clearly depicting this ominous person from life. Sadistic, overpowered by his new authority, this former postman is a true embodiment of all those commanders who supply rich material for army anecdotes. Paul and his friends manage to withstand Himmelstoss and even have their sweet revenge, when his “striped postman butt <was> shining in the moonlight”, but that does not change Himmestoss’s attitude to other recruits. At last, he makes a mistake and a son of a local magistrate simply reports on him. After that Himmestoss is sent to the front where he meets his former subordinates. They could turn his life into a living hell, but there are other things to be worried about. Later he and Paul’s company end their feud, because Himmelstoss proves himself to be caring and even heroic in a way.
Kantorek
Judging by his books and the manner of narration, Remarque was a rather well-balanced person, but when it comes to Kantorek and his kind, he visibly simmers with rage. Patriotic speeches of Kantorek led Paul and his schoolmates to volunteering. Nobody warned them about the reality of war, and Paul interrupts his narration for pronouncing long monologues about thousands Kantoreks of this world. Speaking about this, he is carefully choosing words, or else he wouldn’t be able to find a single printable word for his former schoolmaster. Remark is so disgusted by Kantorek, who is indirectly guilty in deaths of almost all Paul’s class and Paul himself, that he palpably enjoys the scene of Kantorek’s humiliation at the training camp.
