Whopper: Arnold Schwarzenegger What were Soviet tanks doing in Austria's British-occupied sector?

Slate ^ | 9-3-04 | Slate

[Jeff Blogworthy]

ByTimothy Noah Posted Friday, Sept. 3, 2004, at 3:56 PM PT

When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.

My family didn't have a car -- but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car, and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!

As a kid I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left. I love Austria and I love the Austrian people - but I always knew America was the place for me.

--Arnold Schwarzenegger, Aug. 31, 2004.

"It's a fact -- as a child he could not have seen a Soviet tank in Styria," the southeastern province where Schwarzenegger was born and raised, historian Stefan Karner told the Vienna newspaper Kurier.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Which claim is more believable?

1) 8-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger went in a car with his father into the Soviet sector of Austria. Or,

2) 12-year-old John Kerry rode his bicycle in and out of East Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie by himself.

[68skylark]

Has anyone yet pointed out that the whole "girlieman" thing is actually from a Saturday Night Live parody of Arnold - Hans and Franz?

Yeah, that's been widely pointed out I think. Arnold has enough good humor to borrow lines from skits that made fun of him -- it shows he doesn't take himself too seriously. That's quite a contrast with humorless Democrats like Kerry.

[x]

Funny! Timothy Noah has long been a "shoot first ask questions later" partisan, and this time he's gone off half cocked.

[TheDon]

I have to agree. For anyone to take what the MSM has to say at face value, during the ongoing obvious anti-SBV bias, is naive. When the MSM attacks our side, you must first go to the source of their attack and research it yourself. Our side is innocent of MSM accusations until proven guilty by the facts.

[An.American.Expatriate]

Err, okay.

[Republican Wildcat]

If this is true, it is as bad as "Christmas in Cambodia." I would like an explanation.

The explanation is that this article is a lie. He said they "crossed over into the Soviet sector." If they crossed over, they weren't in the British sector. Got it?

[demnomo]

I'd like to see the Whopper word in a headline regarding Clinton and the Black Churches burning, Hillary's denial of having had an affair with Vince Foster, (among other Whoppers) Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia, Nixon being Presidents 3 months before the January Innauguration, etc...

Yeah, right.

I believe the Guvenator was talking about a trip he and his father made to an Uncvle in the Russian-occupied zone.

This and the AP's obvious LIE about the Clinton booing yesterday at a Bush Rally makes me believe that the MSM is becoming as crazy as their "annoited one" John Kerry has in the past month. Both the MSM and Kerry have been making blatant "boo boos" of their own. The BIAS is right out there for all to see. The cat is out of the bag and there is no denying that the MSM wants to defeat Bush in any way possible. Journalistic integrity (yeah, right) be danged!

[rmgatto]

Sorry. Obviously not intended for you. I regret this self-inflicted mistake.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Great link! It sounds like post-war Austria was just like post-war Germany. The capital Vienna, which was divided into four occupational zones, was well inside of the larger Soviet zone of the country. Just as with Berlin, traveling from the free side of the county to the free side of the capital required traveling through the Soviet zone of occupation.

Having traveled to Berlin through East Germany alone as a minor in the mid-1980s, I can attest to how memorable those Soviet check-point were. I am certain that there is no hyperbole in Gov. Schwarzenegger's statement, his fear was both sincere and justified.

[Travis McGee]

"It's a fact -- as a child he could not have seen a Soviet tank in Styria," the southeastern province where Schwarzenegger was born and raised, historian Stefan Karner told the Vienna newspaper Kurier.

Did Arnold say he saw Soviet tanks in Styria? I missed that part. Please point it out to me.

[MeekOneGOP]

Welcome to FreeRepublic.com .....

[An.American.Expatriate]

No problem. Since I too was confused, I thought a kind reply might be in order. . . .

[lowbridge]

I might add. Noah's full article complains that Arnold never said the Soviet tanks were in his hometown, but he "sure as hell implied they were there." I love this word, implied. It's the most over used word in political arguments today.

So true. Liberals use the word "implied" in order to put words into other peoples mouths. Words that they never spoke, much less thought.

[Abcdefg]

Respond to the fuggin' liar at "chatterbox@slate.com"

[RightWhale]

The USSR occupied Austria but withdrew when the occupation zones were created.

[Lancey Howard]

If this is true, it is as bad as "Christmas in Cambodia."

Yeah, it is seared into Bush's memory.
Now go back where you came from, Chuckles.

[SamAdams76]

I've been in Austria. It's an extremly small country and one can drive across it in a matter of hours. They drove from his home area to a different area where they encountered the soviets.

Good point. Most Americans have no conception of just how small Europe is (compared to the vast lands of North America). I have some German friends who would tell about vacations in France, Italy, Czech Republic, etc., and I thought of them of world travelers. Until I looked closely at a globe and realized that all their traveling was roughly similar to my weekend trips to Maine, New Hampshire, Cape Cod, and the Poconos, etc.

[aruanan]

If this is true, it is as bad as "Christmas in Cambodia." I would like an explanation.

You live in the British sector. Your uncle lives in the Soviet sector. You grow up hearing the stories and see the difference between the two sectors. What's not to understand about the Soviets?

[aruanan]

The very fearsomeness of the Soviets would have made any sensible Austrian reluctant to enter their jurisdiction.

Typical leftist/liberal: what they imagine has a greater reality than reality.

[wattsmag2]

Did you bother to read the transcripts of Arnold's speech? Obviously not.