Is ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Based on a True Story?

One of the most impactful war stories of the last century, All Quiet on the Western Front, is now a harrowing Oscar-hopeful film, which began streaming on Netflix last week.

The movie—which is directed by Edward Berger, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson—is based on the world-renowned 1929 German novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. It’s historical fiction and tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who enlists as a German soldier in World War I with propaganda-fueled dreams of becoming a hero. Those dreams are soon shattered by the violent, horrific reality of the front lines. If you didn’t read the novel in school, you were likely at least shown the 1930 film, which took home Best Picture at the Academy Awards and is considered by many to be one of the greatest war films of all time. No pressure, Netflix!

But with a higher film resolution and a lot more resources, this version of All Quiet on the Western Front might be even more accurate to the horrors of World War I than the book or the 1930 film. Read on to learn about how the 2022 All Quiet on the Western Front incorporated the true story of WWI into the movie, and how accurate the movie was to the historical events it depicts.

Is All Quiet on the Western Front based on a true story?

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that World War I was very much a real and terrible war. The author of the 1928 novel, Erich Maria Remarque, was a German WWI veteran, who witnessed and experienced the trauma he describes in his book.

That said, according to German historian Prof. Daniel Schönpflug—who served as a consultant on 2022 movie—the idea that All Quiet on the Western Front is based entirely on the true story of Remarque’s first-hand experience is “more complicated” than that.

“In addition to his own memories, Remarque also worked in the experiences of others,” Schönpflug said in an interview for the All Quiet press notes. “For example, the diary of his school friend Georg Middendorf and reports from other people with whom he talked during and after the war. The boundary between fact and fiction, between reportage and literature, thus blurred.”

In other words, All Quiet on the Western Front is a historical novel, not a memoir. While Remarque based his characters on his own experience, they are still, at the end of the day, fictional characters. There was no Paul Baumer and Stanislaus “Kat” Katczinsky in real life, and it’s impossible to know which details of the novel really happened to Remarque, and which details he invented or changed. That said, Schönpflug did say in that same press notes interview that Remarque actually toned down the horrors of the war, at the request of his publisher.

The 2022 movie version of All Quiet on the Western Front adds a little extra true-story flavor that was not a main focus in the novel: the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, which ended the fighting and signaled a defeat for Germany. (Though Germany did not formally surrender until a year later at the Paris Peace Conference.) Through this storyline, director Edward Berger peppers in key real-life WWI figures, including Matthias Erzberger (played by Daniel Brühl), a German official who was instrumental in pushing for an end to the war; and General Ferdinand Froch (played by Thibault de Montalembert), a famously aggressive French general who became the Allied Commander-in-Chief in late March 1918 and launched a war-winning attack.

How accurate is All Quiet on the Western Front to WWI?

While the main characters and their story are fictional, director Edward Berger and his team strived for accuracy when creating the production design, costumes, and props for 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front.

In an interview for the movie press notes, producer Malte Grunert said, “We wanted to be historically authentic at all times. Especially if you decide not to paint your war story as a trial of heroes but rather to actually make a movie about war, authenticity is paramount.”

Grunert explained in that same interview that the various heads of departments sought historical advice on all aspects of the film and that depictions of real historical events and real historical figures—like the signing of the Armistice—were “cross-referenced, checked and portrayed with a view to accuracy.”

Actors Albrecht Schuch and Felix Kammerer, who play lead characters Paul and Kat respectively, even wore historically-accurate—and historically uncomfortable—boots, despite that detail not being visible on screen. Said the costume designer Lisy Christl, “If they didn’t have something back then, then we won’t have it either.” Grunert added this made putting on and taking off the uniforms very difficult for the actor. “When [the uniforms] get wet, they are very, very heavy,” Grunert said.

As for the location, while the recreated frontline wasn’t an exact replica á la The Rehearsal, it was a meticulous recreation of WWI battlefields and trenches.

“This went so far that we did research as to which regiments actually came from Westphalia and which numbers they wore because our boys came from Westphalia,” Grunert said. “We were meticulous. It didn’t necessarily make life easier for us, but it is an important reference. If you decide to do something correctly, there is only one right way.”