Gustav Schwarzenegger

Austrian police chief and father of Arnold Schwarzenegger (1907-1972)

Gustav Schwarzenegger

Born| (1907-08-17)17 August 1907
Graz, Duchy of Styria, Archduchy of Austria, Cisleithania, Austria-Hungary
Died| 13 December 1972(1972-12-13) (aged 65)
Weiz, Styria, Austria
Buried|

Weiz Cemetery, Weiz, Styria, Austria

Allegiance|  First Austrian Republic
Federal State of Austria
Nazi Germany
Austrian Republic
Branch|  Austrian Land Forces
German Army
Years of service| 1930–1937, 1939–1944
Rank| Stabsfeldwebel
Unit| Feldgendarmerie-Abteilung 521 (mot.), 4th Panzer Army
Battles / wars|

* World War II
* Operation Barbarossa
* Siege of Leningrad (WIA)

Awards| Iron Cross 1st Class
Iron Cross 2nd Class
Eastern Medal
Wound Badge Black/3rd Class
Spouse(s)|

Aurelia Jadrny

(m. 1945)​

Children|

* Meinhard
* Arnold

Other work| Policeman

Gustav Schwarzenegger (17 August 1907 - 13 December 1972) was an Austrian police chief (Gendarmeriekommandant), postal inspector, member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), and military police officer. He was the father of former governor of California and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

## Biography

[edit]

Schwarzenegger was born on 17 August 1907 in Graz, the son of Karl Schwarzenegger (1872–1927) and wife Cecelia (née Hinterleitner, 1878–1968).[1] His paternal grandfather, Wenzel (Václav) Mach, was Czech, and came from the small village of Chocov near Mladá Vožice, in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Lands of the Bohemian Crown, Austrian Empire.[2] Vaclav had a child out of wedlock with Kunigunde Schwarzenegger, and the child was originally named Carl Mach, but later adopted his mother's surname, Schwarzenegger.[3][4]

## Nazi Party and SA membership

[edit]

According to documents obtained in 2003 from the Austrian State Archives by the Los Angeles Times,[a] Schwarzenegger applied to join the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi Party's (NSDAP) paramilitary wing, on 1 March 1939. Austria became part of Nazi Germany after being annexed on 12 March 1938.[5] A separate record obtained by the Wiesenthal Center indicates he sought membership before the annexation, but was accepted only in January 1941.

Schwarzenegger also applied to become a member of the SA on 1 May 1939, a year after the annexation of Austria, at a time when SA membership was declining. The SA had 900,000 members in 1940, down from 4.2 million in 1934. This six-year decline in SA membership was an extended result of the three-day-long purge known as the Night of the Long Knives, a political purge carried out by Adolf Hitler against the SA, seen at that time as too radical and too powerful by senior military and industrial leaders within the NSDAP.

## Military career

[edit]

Schwarzenegger had served in the Austrian Army from 1930 to 1937, achieving the rank of section commander and, in 1937, he became a police officer. After enlisting in the Wehrmacht in November 1939, Schwarzenegger, according to his Soldbuch, had gained the rank of Stabsfeldwebel[6] (sergeant major) of the Feldgendarmerie, which acted as military police units. He served in Poland, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Lithuania and the Soviet Union. His unit was Feldgendarmerie-Abteilung 521 (mot.), part of Panzer Group 4.

Wounded in action in the Siege of Leningrad, in Leningrad, Russia,[7] on 22 August 1942, Schwarzenegger was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Classes for bravery, the Eastern Medal, and the Wound Badge Black/3rd Class; he also received significant medical attention for his injuries. Initially treated at a military hospital in Łódź, the capital of the General Government, according to the records, Schwarzenegger also suffered recurring bouts of malaria, which led to his discharge in February 1944. Considered unfit for active duty, he returned to Graz, Alpine and Danube Reichsgaue (Austria), where he was assigned to work as a postal inspector.[5]

A health registry document describes him as a "calm and reliable person, not particularly outstanding" and assesses his intellect as "average." Ursula Schwarz, a historian at Vienna's Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, has argued that Schwarzenegger's career was fairly typical for his generation,[8] and that no evidence has emerged directly linking him with participation in war crimes or abuses against civilians.[5] He resumed his police career in 1947.

## Later life and death

[edit]

Gustav and Aurelia Schwarzenegger on their wedding day, October 20, 1945.

Schwarzenegger married war widow Aurelia "Reli" Jadrny (29 July 1922 - 2 August 1998) on 20 October 1945, in Mürzsteg, Styria, then in Allied-occupied Austria. They later had two sons, Meinhard and Arnold. Meinhard died on 20 May 1971 in a solo car accident while driving drunk on a mountain road at age 24; Meinhard was survived by his son, Patrick Knapp Schwarzenegger.[9][10]

Schwarzenegger died of a stroke on 13 December 1972, at the age of 65, in Weiz, Styria, Austria, where he had been transferred as a policeman. While visiting Weiz Cemetery in August 1998, where her husband was buried, Aurelia Jadrny Schwarzenegger died of a heart attack at the age of 76; she is buried next to him. Their son, Arnold, stated in the film Pumping Iron that he did not attend his father's funeral, but the film's director, George Butler, later said that it was a story Arnold had appropriated from a boxer, to make it appear as though he could prevent his personal life from interfering with his athletic training.[11]

News reports about Schwarzenegger's Nazi links first surfaced in 1990, at which time Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization he had long supported, to research his father's past. The Center found his father's army records and NSDAP party membership, but did not uncover any connection to war crimes or the paramilitary organization, the Schutzstaffel (SS).[5] Media interest resurfaced when Arnold ran for Governor of California in the state's 2003 recall election.

In a 2021 video made in response to the United States Capitol attack, his son Arnold publicly recalled, for the first time, how Gustav was frequently drunk and abusive to his family when Arnold was young. He attributed this behavior to guilt and shame over what Gustav and other Nazis and collaborators had perpetrated or enabled during the war.[12] His son brought up the war's impact on Gustav again in a 2022 video about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which he urged the Russian soldiers to discontinue their invasion in order not to "be broken like [his] father".[13]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ This was following the expiration of a 30-year seal on Schwarzenegger's records under Austrian privacy laws.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Krasniewicz, Louise; Blitz, Michael (1 January 2006). Arnold Schwarzenegger: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313338106.
2. ^ "Birth record of Ernst Mach". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
3. ^ "Slovenka vypátrala skutočný pôvod akčného hrdinu: Žiadny Schwarzenegger, ale Arnold Mach!". Nový čas. 18 August 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
4. ^ "Conan the Bohemian: Arnold Schwarzenegger's Czech roots confirmed". The Prague Reporter. Archived from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
5. ^ a b c d Wilkinson, Tracy; Lait, Matt (14 August 2003). "Austrian Archives Reveal Nazi Military Role of Actor's Father". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
6. ^ Schwarzeneggers Vater war SA-Mitglied
7. ^ "I love the Russian people. That is why I have to tell you the truth. Please watch and share". Twitter. 18 March 2022.
8. ^ "Spotlight Thrown on Nazi Past of Schwarzenegger's Father". AFP. 25 August 2003. Archived from the original on 22 November 2006.
9. ^ "The Unkillable Arnold Schwarzenegger". Rolling Stone. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
10. ^ Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Simon & Schuster, 2012, p. 134
11. ^ Gillespie, Nick (31 July 2003). "Hasta la Vista, Arnold: How Schwarzenegger could have liberated U.S. politics". Reason. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
12. ^ @Schwarzenegger (10 January 2021). "My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
13. ^ Urban, Sasha (17 March 2022). "Arnold Schwarzenegger Recalls Nazi Father in Anti-War Message to Russia". Variety. Retrieved 19 March 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Arnold Schwarzenegger

* Filmography
* Political career
* Awards

Governorship|

* 2003 California gubernatorial recall election
* 2006 California gubernatorial election
* Opinion polling
* LGBT rights
* California Hydrogen Highway

Family|

* Gustav Schwarzenegger (father)
* Christian Schwarzenegger (cousin)
* Patrick Knapp Schwarzenegger (nephew)
* Maria Shriver (ex-wife)
* Katherine Schwarzenegger (daughter)
* Patrick Schwarzenegger (son)
* Joseph Baena (son)
* Chris Pratt (son-in law)

Related|

* Arnold Sports Festival
* Agra schwarzeneggeri
* Richardson v Schwarzenegger
* Planet Hollywood
* Statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Arnold

* Category

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*[m.]: married
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