Character Analysis
Henckels is a pretty stand-up dude. He's polite, observant, and good at his job—it's just too bad that his job is being the cop who's hot on Gustave H's tail.
It would be easy to make the antagonist policeman out to be an immorally motivated, petty, cold-blooded character, but Henckels is basically the opposite. When we first meet him when Gustave and Zero are stopped in a barley field, he is "terribly embarrassed" by the rough behavior of his men, and very politely apologizes. Henckels is the first character who shows us that Gustave's charm and always accommodating manners can actually pay off… in more ways than just return visits to the Budapest Hotel.
Of course, from this point on, things get a little more difficult between Gustave and the man he once knew as little Albert. Despite Gustave being kind to him when he was a "lonely little boy," Henckels is a man bound by the law, meaning he must arrest Gustave for allegedly murdering Madame D.—although we notice that he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before reading the arrest warrant, making it very clear that arresting Gustave was the last thing he wanted to do.
Even when he finally sights Gustave in the Zubrowkian Alps, his call to Gustave over the megaphone is more a plea for compliance and less of a demand for surrender:
"You are a fugitive from justice. Surrender lawfully and I will personally vouchsafe your fair treatment."
Poor Henckels is caught between being bound by duty and feeling for the kind man from his past. Luckily, he is able to maintain an air of civility and chivalry (that he probably learned from Gustave himself). Henckels is a gentleman, even if he has to make some unfortunate arrests.