Arnold Schwarzenegger is not only a recognizable person, but also a well-liked authority. So he uses his popularity to do charity work. He supported, among others, organizations working for children with diabetes, people suffering from AIDS, access to medical services in Africa, or opposing human trafficking. He has repeatedly spoken out against various forms of discrimination. The actor has also been politically involved for years – he served as the governor of California, and nowadays he tries to educate his audience and counteract disinformation in connection with the war in Ukraine. A recording posted on Twitter, in which he appeals to Russian citizens, Russian soldiers and Putin himself, has been played more than 38 million times. Recently, Schwarzenegger also appeared in the video for the song “Shchedryi Vechir” by Ukrainian Eurovision winners, Kalush Orchestra. Now he has spoken about another political issue – he appealed to the Nazis and anti-Semites.
“I don’t want you to be among the losers”
Although Schwarzenegger took a completely different path, becoming a bodybuilder and then an actor, he does not cut himself off from the past and openly admits that his father, Gustav, was not only an Austrian police chief and military police officer, but also a Nazi – a member of the Sturmabteilung. Now the son is doing penance for his sins, even by visiting the Auschwitz camp. Although he accidentally quoted the most famous phrase from “Terminator”, he described the experience as “one of the darkest moments of my life”, and he recalls the visit in 2022 in detail in the new recording. “Early on, the weight hits you, heavier than any squat I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
The actor saw that although several decades have passed since the Second World War, despite the horrific testimonies, there is still a global rise in anti-Semitic views. The Center for Extremism of the Anti-Defamation League in a January report found that at least 85% of Americans “believe in at least one anti-Semitic theory.” “At the end of this road, you will not succeed,” warns Schwarzenegger in the video. “It is easier to study ignorance than knowledge.”
I don’t know the road that got you here, but I’ve seen enough people risk their futures for hateful beliefs. So I want to talk to you before you find your regrets at the end of this path. Nazis? Losers. Confederates? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don’t want you to be among the losers […] even though my friends tell me, “Arnold, don’t talk to them. I don’t care what they say. I care about you. I think you’re worth it. I know nobody’s perfect and I understand how people get into trap of prejudice and hatred.
– explains the actor, trying to educate instead of condemning those who, in his opinion, “stumbled on the wrong path”, taken “by the weak”.
When you spend your life looking for scapegoats, you steal your own strength. You must give up the war against everyone you hate. The war you really have to fight is a war with yourself.
– convinces.
Broken like modern soldiers
He also referred to his father again, calling him one of the “war-broken men” with “a creeping sense of guilt”.
They felt like losers, not only because they lost the war, but also because they fell for the terrible ideology of losers. They were lied to and put on a path that ended in misery. In the end, it didn’t matter why they joined [nazistów]. They were all broken the same way. This is the crux of the matter. […] There has never been a successful hate movement.
he said. He had already referred to his father’s crimes in the past in the context of current events. Gustav Schwarzenegger took part in the Siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. My father was wounded in Leningrad, and the Nazi army, of which he was a part, did great harm to the great city and its brave inhabitants, he said. “If the Russian soldiers are listening to me, you know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father,” he pleaded in a video about the war in Ukraine last year.
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The entire 12-minute film devoted to the problem of anti-Semitism can be viewed below.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
