[Jeff Blogworthy]

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

[SubMareener]

In the spring of 1965, I was in Germany as part of my college's foreign study program. before that, I had been "making nose cones to kill Russians" at GE Reentry Systems Department as part of the college's "work-study" program. The security officer at GE said it was OK for me to go on the trip to West Berlin, just not to go into the Soviet sector.

After going through the Soviet checkpoints on the Autobahn, I can tell you, from personal experience, that everything Arnold said about the fear of arbitrary arrest is true.

Coming back from Berlin, we were told at the Berlin end checkpoint that any material referring to President Kennedy's trip to Berlin would be grounds for arrest. They had already confiscated some of this material.

As we proceeded down the Autobahn, one of the guys in our group happily explained how clever he had been in hiding the pictures of Kennedy at the Wall in his suit case. Sure enough, at the other end, he was selected to have his suitcase searched. The only thing that saved us was his quick sense to pick someone else's suitcase for the search.

Now, I have since experienced a loss of hydraulics while at Periscope Depth in a hurricane and had to blow main ballast to recover; I have had an oxygen generator blow up when we were doing "oceanographic research in the North Atlantic"; but I have never been as scared as I was at that East German checkpoint.

[RayChuang88]

Jeff, that article is

Here is the text from Schwarzenegger's speech in question:

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!

You're forgetting that in Schwarzenegger's early childhood, Austria was occupied in four zones like it was in Germany during the immediate post-World War II years. It would not be hard for Schwarzenegger to see Soviet tanks, given how small Austria is and the fact he would make visits to relatives and friends living in the Soviet Zone (which included Vienna).

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

What do you need explained? Can you read the part about crossing into the Soviet Sector? Are you stupid or just a troll?

I served and lived in the American Sector of Germany in the 70's, do you think that means I never saw a Russian tank?

This article and the post just proves some of the fools are left wing some are right wing.

[sharktrager]

How about, Austria is a small country and Arnold left his home town on occasion?

[AmericanMade1776]

Vienna During the Occupation of Austria was divided among the occupiers.

Taken from the "Map and Guide to Vienna" published by Freytag-Berndt und Artaria of Vienna and distributed by the American Red Cross to U.S. troops stationed in Vienna in 1945/1946. (Brought back as a souvenir by my father, Walter E. Elkins, who served with the 242nd Infantry Regiment (42nd Rainbow Division) during WWII and the first months of the occupation.)

[kellynla]

nothing to explain...as others have already done... the liberals thought they had "busted" Ahnold but as usual they were wrong...Ahnold with his father and uncle drove into the Soviet sector...next case...

[captain_zammo]

Y'all are missing the point. This happened forty years ago. And the key isn't whether or not Arnold saw Soviet tanks; its the fact that there ARE NO MORE Soviet tanks.

We won the cold war, we defeated the Soviets. And yes, Austria is an independent republic now, but it's a socialist nation, like most of Europe (including our allies in Britain)

[Capriole]

In 1972, which is the last time I visited Austria, it was a fifteen minute drive between Austria and the Soviet tanks in then-Czechoslovakia. And believe me, Czechoslovakia could be a pretty scary place. My relatives there were continually frightened of the Soviet troops patrolling their streets and my car was often stopped by Russian soldiers who were suspicious. I can certainly get behind Arnold's story.

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[Tennessean4Bush]

If this is true, it is as bad as...

I was born and raised in Huntsville, AL. However, I remember often travelling and spending time with my family in other parts of the country.

[itsamelman]

digging...

[Right Wing Professor]

One other important point; 40,000 Soviet Troops remained in the Soviet Zone of Austria until September 1955. Arnold would have been around 8 at the time. His story of crossing into the Soviet Zone and seeing Soviet tanks is not only plausible, it's highly likely. Had he ever travelled into that zone, he would have seen those troops.

This article is the worst piece of liberal lying I've seen in a while. And when you consider the competition, that's quite an achievement.

Brief but fact-filled link on the Soviet occupation of Austria.

[Petronski]

I would recommend remedial reading comprehension classes. This thread makes you look rather 'stoopid.'

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

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

I grew up in the Ohio sector of the USA, and I know this might be difficult to believe but while travelling with my uncle, we were actually been stopped by Arkansas State troopers in their vehicles at checkpoints into the Arkasas sector of the USA.

Any Austrian who visited Vienna from 1945 to 1955 had to go through checkpoints, British, French, Russian or American.

They asked the Historian the equivalent of "Were there ever Arkansas patrol cars in Ohio?" He said no. He was right. Arnold is right. Slate is just RETARDED. DU will gobble this up too, because they are RETARDED too.

[TheCrusader]

"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."

Where in the statement did Arnold say he saw a tank in Styria? At least your liberal 'historian' friend isn't a revisionist, he's just your average everday moron.

[devolve]

Disruptor

Distractor



Stealth Leftie Troll

or

Someone who cannot read and comprehend



The result is exactly the same



Another inane egotistical vanity thread

[texasbluebell]

I haven't read the entire thread yet, but certainly hope that someone has sent the information about Austria's sectors to the author of the slate article!

Once again, the lying media is tripped up.

[AmericanMade1776]

Poor Slate.msn.com....a load of propaganda by desperate leftist liberal lying loony tunes, the best that Soros money can buy.

[rmgatto]

Your explanation: READ THE FREAKING ARTICLE YOU POSTED AND COMPARE IT WITH THE SPEECH. Nothing is more pathetic than a lazy psuedo-intellectual. You are nowhere near the end of your FREEProbation period and you post this drek?

[Cacique]

There were checkpoints betweenbthe different sectors. It was not uncommon for people to travel in between them. If you read carefully what Arnold said he probably was traveling from the English sector where he was living to the Soviet sector. Much ado about nothing.

Austria is BTW, the only country in occupied postwar Europe that the Soviets ever left. The condition for their withdrawal was that Austria would have to become a neutral state and could not join NATO.