Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pleaded with Russian people to understand the truth about the conflict in Ukraine in a nine-minute film released Thursday, March 17, evoking his father's Nazi background to highlight the potency of falsehoods.
During World War II, his father, who served in the Nazi army, was injured in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Arnold recalled how his father Gustav Schwarzenegger, a Nazi party member, urged him to remove a poster of legendary weightlifter Yury Vlasov from his room and "find a German or Austrian hero" instead. He said: “But I did not take down the photograph, because it didn’t matter to me what flag Yury Vlasov carried.”
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In the now-viral video, Schwarzenegger claims that he is disseminating the message through several means in an attempt to cut through the misinformation and reach Russian residents and soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
He spoke about his long relationship with Russia, including filming movies and meeting bodybuilding admirers there, as well as his admiration for a Soviet-era weightlifter.
Schwarzenegger added, “[My father] was injured at Leningrad and the Nazi army he was part of did vicious harm to the great city and to its brave people."
“When my father arrived in Leningrad, he was all pumped up on the lies of his government," he continued. “When he left Leningrad, he was broken – physically and mentally. He lived the rest of his life in pain. Pain from a broken back, pain from the shrapnel that always reminded him of those terrible years. And the pain from the guilt that he felt."
“To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast, you already know much of the truth that I’m speaking. You’ve seen it in your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father.”
After Gustav's death in 1972, the truth about his time as a Nazi became public in the late 1980s and was brought up again during Arnold's run for governor in 2003, and again in 2020 following his criticisms of those who did not follow COVID restrictions. Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, planned to utilize his father's terrible ties to expose the falsehoods being given to Russian soldiers and citizens alike.
"I know that your government has told you that this is a war to denazify Ukraine," Schwarzenegger continued, noting Russian President Vladimir Putin's different excuses for his war and the 141 nations that have criticized his actions in Ukraine. He then urged the Russian people and Russian servicemen in Ukraine to “understand the propaganda and the disinformation that you are being told."
Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been candid about his childhood problems. He is said to have grown up in Austria under the watchful eye of a harsh and violent father. Since moving to America, the actor of 'The Predator' is said to have been alienated from his father.
Gustav Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian police force as a police chief, military police officer, and postal inspector. From 1930 until 1937, he served in the Austrian Army. He served in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, France, Belgium, and Lithuania.
Gustav's ties to the Nazi Wehrmacht have been the subject of online rumors since about 1990. As a result, Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center to look into his father's background.
The Center's research showed that Gustav Schwarzenegger applied to join the Nazi Party of his own volition. A second assessment by the Austrian State Archives found that Gustav was firmly committed to Hitler's government, according to the Los Angeles Times.
