# Tjaden — All Quiet on the Western Front character guide

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the stingy Tjaden, Only Tjaden, The Tjaden

**First appearance:** 0002-i

## Snapshot

A hungry, grudge-holding soldier with a peasant's cunning and a gift for insubordination, forever settling scores with the corporal who tormented him.

## Who they are

Tjaden is the squad's resident scrounger and complainer, a thin, mousy man whose chief passions are food and revenge on Himmelstoss. His open contempt for the former postman — spitting out 'dirty hound' to his face — is one of the novel's first acts of defiance, and it costs him. He is also, in the quieter passages, a barometer of how much the men have come to value a cigar, a full plate, and a day without shells.

## In the story

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

Mentioned as one of the recruits targeted by Himmelstoss's harassment.

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

Describes his national dish and has a special grudge against Himmelstoss due to bed-wetting punishment.

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

Openly insults Himmelstoss, calling him a 'dirty hound,' and faces potential disciplinary action.

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

Mentions regretting wasting bread on rats; endures hunger with the others.

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

Comrade; joins Leer in the smutty conversation about the poster.

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

Referenced in connection with Himmelstoss's earlier mistreatment.

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

Comments on the war and the dead soldier in the tree.

### [The Idyll and the Interruption](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/chapters/x)

Becomes fastidious; jokes with the others.

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

Mentioned for his haste in eating ham-and-pea soup when an attack is reported, reflecting the soldiers' focus on survival.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/all_quiet_on_the_western_front_se/characters/tjaden
- 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