# Haie Westhus — All Quiet on the Western Front character guide

> Haie Westhus in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Westhus, Haie

**First appearance:** 0002-i

## Snapshot

A freckled peat-digger who traded the moors for the trenches, Haie dreams of featherbeds and a peacetime pension while his friends listen half-amused, half-horrified.

## Who they are

Haie Westhus is the group's gentle giant, a former peat-digger whose massive frame makes him invaluable in the trenches and whose simple longings reveal what the war has cost men like him. He spins an elaborate fantasy of staying in the army after the war—trading the backbreaking, poorly paid labor of the moors for regular meals, clean underwear, and the easy authority of a village policeman. His dream is both comic and devastating: he cannot imagine a civilian life better than the one the army has given him, and that quiet desperation is precisely what Remarque wants readers to feel.

## Relationships

### [Albert Kropp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/albert_kropp)

_friendship_

Kropp and Haie Westhus are comrades who share a practical, no-nonsense camaraderie in the trenches.

### [Katczinsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/katczinsky)

_friendship_

Haie Westhus and Katczinsky share a bond of practical survival and mutual respect as experienced soldiers.

### [Katczinsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/katczinsky)

_friendship_

Haie Westhus and Katczinsky share a bond of practical survival and mutual respect as experienced soldiers.

### [Katczinsky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/katczinsky)

_friendship_

Haie Westhus and Katczinsky share a bond of practical survival and mutual respect as experienced soldiers.

### [Albert Kropp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/albert_kropp)

_friendship_

Kropp and Haie Westhus are comrades who share a practical, no-nonsense camaraderie in the trenches.

## In the story

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as another recruit who suffers under Himmelstoss's training.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/chapters/iii)

Acts as Kat's executive arm, helps obtain straw, and delivers a blow to Himmelstoss during the beating.

### [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/chapters/v)

Dreams of a peacetime career as a non-commissioned officer and village policeman, but is mocked by Kat.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/haie_westhus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters