“All Quiet on the Western Front,” a show on Netflix, is about German soldiers fighting in the First World War.
Paul Baumer, a 17-year-old boy, is the main character, but we also follow the stories of three of his friends. With hopes in their hearts, the four of them join the army. They want to fight for and win the war for their country. For them, going to war and fighting is the most heroic and patriotic thing they can do. But when they are actually in the trenches, their thoughts change quickly.
As they fight on the Western Front, some of their friends die and other soldiers join their group. Albert Kropp, who has known Paul since the beginning, is still one of his best friends. They also make friends with a man named Tjaden Stackfleet, who helps them get used to their new life. If you’re wondering if Paul’s friends are based on real soldiers who fought in the war, here’s what you should know about them.
Were Albert Kropp and Tjaden Stackfleet Real WW1 Soldiers?
No, Albert Kropp and Tjaden Stackfleet are not based on real people. Erich Maria Remarque wrote about these people in his 1929 book “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which is what the movie is based on. When he was 18, the author went to fight in the First World War. A lot of his time in the war showed up in his book. It’s possible that Remarque got ideas for Kropp and Tjaden from the other soldiers he served with. But it’s not possible to say for sure who they were.
Through his book, Remarque tried to show how terrible the war was, not to praise it. Through the different paths of his characters, he showed how the soldiers would die in many different ways. This theme is also present in the movie, which uses Kropp and Tjaden, among others, to show how the soldiers lived, what they hoped for, and how they died. But the Netflix movie changes some details about the characters, even though it stays true to the main parts of the story.
In the movie, Kropp dies in a horrible way on the battlefield. In the book, however, his fate is not clear. He gets hurt, and as a result, his leg has to be cut off. He thinks about killing himself, but then decides to give himself a second chance. Paul last sees him at the hospital, and they never see each other again. In the movie, Tjaden is threatened with amputation, but in the book, he lives. Paul finds Tjaden badly hurt after a terrible battle at the front. It looks like he will have to have his leg amputated.
Even though it will save his life, Tjaden can’t stand the thought of living as a person who has had a limb cut off. So, when Paul and Kat bring him soup to eat, he uses the fork to stab himself in the neck. In the book, this happens to another patient in Kropp’s ward. Even though the movie might have switched the characters’ endings, both of them are about the very sad reality of military suicide.
A 2021 study that looked at military service after September 11, 2001, found that suicide kills four times more people than military operations. In the past few years, both the government and the military have become more aware of how important it is to pay attention to the mental health of soldiers. During the First World War, on the other hand, things were very different. Cases of suicide weren’t given as much attention, and they were often labeled as “temporary insanity.” Often, suicide deaths were never even reported.
With Tjaden’s death, “All Quiet on the Western Front” draws our attention to this situation and shows us another way that war is destructive. So, Albert Kropp and Tjaden Stackfleet might not be based on real people, but it’s likely that the author was influenced by the people he met and the deaths he saw during the war. His characters are based on his own life, so they are not too far from the truth.
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Analysis of Albert Kropp’s Character
Albert is a thoughtful man who curses Kemmerich’s bad luck. He thinks about what it all means and comes to the conclusion that wars would be fair if the people who started them met in a ring and fought like a toreador and a bull with only clubs. In Chapter 5, when the men think about going back to normal life, he says they are useless and thinks they will probably all die in battle. Even though he doesn’t have the fire of Tjaden, the flexibility of Kat, or the wistful longing of Detering, he has enough spirit to help Paul humiliate Himmelstoss by spitting on the drill instructor’s legs, putting an end to the cruel torments of the cruel martinet. Kropp is a happy humanist at heart, so he joins teams that look for the dying. He gets his ear lobe cut off as a reward. When Paul goes away for six weeks, Albert goes to the train station with him to wish him well.
Albert vows that he will kill himself rather than live without his leg, which is cut off at the thigh, after he is hurt above the knee. A musician who shares his ward tries to stab himself in the heart with a fork, driving the tines in with blows from his shoe, perhaps as a lesson. Albert reluctantly and quietly comes to terms with his loss and joins the ward in welcoming Marja Lewandowski. Albert has gotten better enough physically and emotionally that he can now watch the Lewandowski child. Albert doesn’t talk much about the next part of his recovery, which is getting used to an artificial leg. This is because he is no longer with Paul.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is being turned into a major movie by Netflix. It will be available to stream on October 28. The streaming service just put out a trailer for the movie, which shows a lot of war action and includes the famous line from the book, “We have so much to say, and we will never say it.” There are scary scenes of violence and terror, and a lot of people die.
There have been many different versions of the book. This version of the story sounds like it will be told with a lot more feeling. Germany’s Edward Berger is in charge of the movie. He has also made movies like Jack (2014), Deutschland 83 (2015), and All My Loving (2019). Key characters include protagonist Paul Baumer (Felix Kammerer), Stanislaus ‘Kat’ Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch), Albert Kropp (Aaron Hilmer), Franz Müller (Moritz Klaus), Tjaden Stackfleet (Edin Hasanovic), and Ludwig Behm (Adrian Grünewald).
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All Quiet on the Western Front, a German movie with English subtitles, is Germany’s foreign film entry for the 2023 Academy Awards. Notably, the 1930 version won Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards. Netflix hopes that this movie will be one of the most watched in 2022. As of October 23, The Tinder Swindler and The Adam Project are the two most-watched Netflix movies of the year so far. The Tinder Swindler and The Adam Project have been available since February and March, respectively, which gives them an advantage.
Paul Baumer looks at the label on his uniform and sees the name “Heinrich,” which is the name of someone else. He stands in line in his underwear and shows the person who gave him the name. Paul says that the uniform must belong to someone else.
The soldier says, “It’s probably too small for the guy.” “Always takes place.” He pulls the nametag off the uniform and lets it fall to the floor, where it joins dozens of others.
Heinrich wasn’t too big for the uniform. He doesn’t own it, though. Now, no longer.
Heinrich never came back, but the uniform he was wearing did. The bullet holes were closed up with stitches. The blood was removed by bleaching. Here, in World War I, the uniforms last longer than the people who wear them.
But that’s about to change. In 1917, as the Great War drags on, it wears down the young people of Europe. Paul is part of a small group of people who are going into battle with little more than patriotism.
“You can earn the right to wear the uniforms that have been given to you!” Paul’s teacher had just urged the class a few days before. “Germany’s future is in the hands of its most talented young people!”
Paul and his friends were so moved by this that they signed up. Even though Paul was only 17 and couldn’t volunteer without his parents’ permission, that didn’t matter. Even though his parents would never, ever have let him do that. But now that the war has been going on for four years, the German army doesn’t double-check all parental signatures. Once Paul’s signature was forged, he became a soldier and proudly marched to the front.
Young Paul hasn’t been in as many battles as the uniform has. Maybe memories are sewn into its fibers. Mud, blood, mustard gas particles, and the faint smell of burned flesh.
Paul doesn’t see. On this bright, sunny day, he can only see the road ahead as he and his closest friends march to the front. He can only hear the songs of his fellow soldiers who are getting ready to kill some French people. He can only smell glory.
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