Is this AP quote about Gov Arnold correct?

[Loach]

There are a few threads about Arnold’s speech. This is not one of them. I have a question about a comment in an AP article about the speech. The quote comes from here. The only part of the article that I am asking about is this:

Schwarzenegger, who grew up with Soviet tanks rumbling through his native Austria, called “terrorism more insidious than communism” and said Bush “knows you don’t reason with terrorists. You defeat them.”

Is AP right? Did Arnold grow up with Soviet tanks rumbling through his native Austria? It doesn’t sound right to me. I think it was divided like Germany for a short time but there never was an East Austria with its own puppet government. As far as I know no part of Austria was ever behind the Iron Curtain. IMDB says that Schwarzenegger was born in 1947 so if there was a limited occupation was he old enough to remember? If I am wrong please let me know. Please no political discussion about the speech, its been covered elsewhere on the board.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

Austria regained its independence (that is the Allied occupation officially ended on 26 October, 1955.

[Loach]

Occupied by whom is the question. I knew there was an occupation but I didn’t think the Soviets were involved. The article specifically mentions Soviet tanks in Austria when he was growing up.

[Polycarp]

The Red Army “liberated” Vienna and a fair chunk of eastern Austria from the Germans at the end of WWII. From 1945 (de facto) until 1955, the eastern third of Austria was under Soviet occupation, much as East Germany was the Soviet zone while the British, Americans, and French occupied parts of later West Germany. I don’t know whether Arnold was born in the Soviet zone or not – but he clearly was alive when “Soviet tanks were rumbling through his native Austria” – even if perhaps not his home town.

[kellner]

Originally the situation was very similar to that in Germany. Both countries were divides into four zones (US, USSR, UK, France), initially not sovereign and had troops of all allies on their territory. Growing tensions between the allies caused the foundation of two separate republics in Germany in 1949 - One in the Soviet zone, the other one in most of the other three zones. Both were not fully sovereign until 1990 and both joined the blocs of their occupation powers.
This did not happen in Austria, instead the country became sovereign in 1955, all four occupation powers pulled out. In exchange Austria obliged to remain neutral and never unite with Germany again.

[x-ray_vision]

From here:

There was some head-scratching among academics and scholars of military minutia and even some Internet chatter about something Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his inaugural address: " … to an immigrant like me, who, as a boy, saw Soviet tanks rolling through the streets of Austria … "

At the state Republican convention in September, Schwarzenegger had put it this way: “Growing up, I saw Communism with my own eyes. When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied Austria, I saw their tanks in the streets.”

This was perplexing because Schwarzenegger’s home province of Styria was in the British zone of Austrian occupation, from 1945, before Schwarzenegger was born, until the Allied occupation ended in 1955, when Schwarzenegger was about 8 years old.

Schwarzenegger’s hometown of Thal, as a suburb of Graz, was at the heart of the British zone.

“It is very, very unlikely he saw Soviet tanks rolling in the British zone where he lived,” said historian James Jay Carafano, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and author of the recent book “Waltzing into the Cold War: The Struggle for Occupied Austria.”

“In all likelihood, he saw British or American tanks.”

[Mr.Moto]

The Soviets were surely involved in the occupation, to the point of forcing civilians to billet Red Army soldiers in private homes in the Soviet zone.

These soldiers made wonderful houseguests, BTW. They were famous for stealing bath plugs, crapping on the floors, and raping their hosts’ wives and daughters.

[jk1245]

The easternmost section of Austria (called Burgenland) was under Soviet occupation from 1945-1955. I believe Arnold is from Graz, which doesn’t appear to be in Burgenland based on my quick Googling. It is right next door though, so the soviet tank angle could very well be legit. I’ll poke around a little more and see if I can find something more definitive.

[jk1245]

@jk1245

The easternmost section of Austria (called Burgenland) was under Soviet occupation from 1945-1955. I believe Arnold is from Graz, which doesn’t appear to be in Burgenland based on my quick Googling. It is right next door though, so the soviet tank angle could very well be legit. I’ll poke around a little more and see if I can find something more definitive.

Or I’ll just take a little too long to submit my post and have 4 or 5 people who know what they’re talking about come in.

[Polycarp]

@jk1245

Or I’ll just take a little too long to submit my post and have 4 or 5 people who know what they’re talking about come in.

It happens to all of us from time to time. Take consolation (as I do) in the fact that when it happens, you provided additional information that the quickie posters failed to – I wasn’t sure where in Austria Arnold came from.

So in sum – “Russian tanks did rumble through Austria” when Arnold was a kid – but not through his home town when he was living there. (I think they got as far as Graz in 1945 – but were back in their own occupation zone by 1947.)

And it’s quite possible that he might have gone, as a child, to Vienna or somewhere else in the Soviet Zone with his parents, and actually have seen Soviet tanks in the streets as a kid.

[Loach]

All thats left is to say thanks. I had no idea the occupation lasted that long.

[Hyperelastic]

@Mr. Moto

These soldiers made wonderful houseguests, BTW. They were famous for stealing bath plugs, crapping on the floors, and raping their hosts’ wives and daughters.

Well, all I can say is that if anybody ever stole my bath plug, I’d shoot the SOB.

[Cervaise]

But he didn’t say he was in Cambodia on Christmas, so he gets a pass.

[Cervaise]

Thought this was in GD, sorry for the politics

[cmkeller]

These soldiers made wonderful houseguests, BTW. They were famous for stealing bath plugs, crapping on the floors, and raping their hosts’ wives and daughters.

And people downplay the importance of the third amendment!

[Paul_in_Qatar]

Second Amendment.

[Polycarp]

@Paul in Saudi

Second Amendment.

No, Third!

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. (Source)

[tomndebb]

In Arnie’s defense, I note that he did not say “rolling past my house.” It is quite likely that news stories from the Eastern section would have included Soviet tanks rolling through Austrian villages. (Now, whether the Schwarzeneggers had a TV prior to 1955 is a separate question, although he could clearly have seen them at the movies during the news segments. I’m pretty sure that Europe, as did the U.S., played news segments between features in those days.)

[smiling_bandit]

These soldiers made wonderful houseguests, BTW. They were famous for stealing bath plugs, crapping on the floors, and raping their hosts’ wives and daughters.

Sadly true. The Soviets were, in victory, as bad as the Germans of the era. Maybe even worse. The germans just killed you. The Soviets seemed to take pleasure in degrading you.

[Mr.Moto]

The Third Amendment is among my favorite amendments. It has the distinction of being the least litigated amendment of the original Bill of Rights. It almost never appears in actual case law.

That is a sign of its universal acceptance and application in this country.