The actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (Thal, Austria, 75 years old) does not hide his family past. Gustav Schwarzenegger, the father of the former governor of the state of California, was part of the militancy of the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler during World War II. Now the interpreter uses his family “stain”, as he himself calls it, to set an example in the fight against growing anti-Semitism in the United States.
In an interview broadcast this Wednesday on the US television network CNN, the interpreter of Terminator He has explained that his father came to fight in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, as well as in the invasions of France or Poland: “My father and many other millions of men were absorbed by a system of hatred through lies and tricks. We’ve already seen where that leads,” the actor said in a conversation with host Dana Bash. Schwarzenegger has assured that he saw how his father was “broken” inside: “I think about the type of atrocities that happened, how many millions of people had to die and then end up losing …”.
It is not the first time that Schwarzenegger has spoken openly about what he lived with his father in Austria. Just a few weeks ago, the protagonist of Conan the barbarian participates in a campaign against hate crimes and anti-Semitism that occur in the US. In its presentation, he shared his testimony, which quickly went viral on social networks. “I have already seen enough people throw their futures overboard for their hateful beliefs, and let me tell you that, in addition to the guilt and the wounds, they felt like real losers,” he defended in the interview, where he also wanted to launch a message of encouragement: “No matter how far you’ve come [dentro de esos grupos]I want everyone to know that there is still the possibility of having a correct life.
Although he was born in Austria, Schwarzenegger moved to the United States in 1967, at the age of 21, where he began to stand out in the world of bodybuilding and reached the discipline’s highest title, Mr. Olympia, up to seven times. Two years later he would star in his first film, Hercules in New York. His father died in 1972, when the actor was beginning to become one of the best bodybuilders in the world and was already starring in more and more films, although it was not until the 1980s that he reached the top of his career. the film industry thanks to Conan already the saga of Terminator.
Schwarzenegger’s speech comes at a time when levels of anti-Semitic incidents are soaring. A report published by the US Anti-Defamation League, which began recording this type of data in 1979, shows how these attacks have grown since 2021. The actor explained that, although he does not know the reason for this increase, it is necessary to find “ a way to mitigate it.”
The former governor has not hesitated to talk about the possibility that former President Donald Trump will start as a favorite for the Republican presidential candidacy next year and for the elections to be held in the US in November 2024, to which Joe Biden has already confirmed who will run for the Democratic wing. According to Schwarzenegger, there is “no chance” that Trump could win another term. In fact, despite his Republican past, the actor is not exactly a big fan of the former president, so much so that he says that one of the moments that worried him the most in recent years was the assault on the Capitol on January 6: “The first thing that What came to my mind when I saw it was that it was dangerous and that we were very, very close to losing our democracy. That it could be the start of something like the Night of Broken Glass, let’s all be aware of that.”
