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Arnold Schwarzenegger Brings Message of Strength Against Anti-Semitism & Racial Hate to NJ’s Stockton University

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Brings Message of Strength Against Anti-Semitism & Racial Hate to NJ’s Stockton University

Edited by: Fern Sidman

The Hollywood actor known for his role in “The Terminator” and the person who became California’s 38th governor is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, the man also known for his incredible physique has brought a message of strength against hate to New Jersey’s Stockton University.

 “Your muscles only grow from resistance. It wasn’t easy. It was uncomfortable. Your mind and character are no different than your body and muscles,” the former bodybuilder told Stockton University students and guests on Monday, March 6th during his presentation that focused on terminating anti-Semitism and racial hatred.

Having visited several Nazi concentration camps as of late, Sschwarzenegger spoke of witnessing the walls of the infamous gas chambers where Jews were killed en masse during the nightmarish Holocaust years of World War II. He spoke of seeing the scratch marks on the walls where Jews dug in their fingernails as they desperately struggled to hang on to life.

“It is easier to hate than it is to learn. Easier isn’t better,” said Schwarzenegger, star of several blockbuster films including “Twins,” “Kindergarten Cop” and “Predator.”

More than 600 students, faculty, staff and invited guests, including Holocaust survivors and their families, turned out to hear Schwarzenegger’s message on Monday, according to an article on the Stockton University web site.

 He began his visit at the Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center on Stockton’s Galloway campus, where he met with local Holocaust survivors and their families and learned about the internationally recognized center, which preserves and shares the history of the Holocaust and life stories of South Jersey survivors of Nazi atrocities, the Stockton University report said.

Schwarzenegger was born in Austria two years after World War II to a former Nazi soldier and has been outspoken about fighting anti-Semitism and hate. The Stockton University article said that last September, he toured the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany.

“How do we stop this from happening again? After a visit to Auschwitz, you will never question why ‘never again’ is a valid cry of the people who fight to prevent another Holocaust.

CBSNews.com reported that in a 12-minute video posted on his YouTube page on Monday, Schwarzenegger said he wanted to address the topic amid the recent escalation in global hate and anti-Semitism.

 

He said he doesn’t want to “preach to the choir” of those who are actively against discrimination, according to the CBSNews.com report.  Instead, he wants to speak to those who have “stumbled… into the wrong path.”

“I don’t know the road that has brought you here, but I’ve seen enough people throw away their futures for hateful beliefs,” he said in the video. “So I want to speak with you before you find your regrets at the end of that path.”

CBSNews.com reported that Schwarzenegger pointed to his father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, who, he has said in the past was a Nazi soldier and part of the siege of Leningrad in World War II that famously lasted nearly 900 days. His father, he said, was one of the “broken men” after the war who were “riddled with guilt.” He added that his father “had to drink to numb the pain.”

When describing the Nazis and their collaborators Schwarzenegger said, “they felt like losers, not only because they lost the war, but also because they fell for horrible, loser ideology. They were lied to and misled into a path that ended in misery. In the end, it didn’t really matter why they joined the Nazis. They were all broken in the same way. That’s the bottom line here.”

Instead, Schwarzenegger encouraged the audience to choose a life of strength.

“It’s not easy to look in the mirror and change your own life. Discomfort is how we grow strong,” he said. “You have to struggle to build strength.”

Schwarzenegger recounted how he struggled through pain and adversity to build muscle and go on to be one of the top bodybuilders in the world before transitioning to careers in film and politics. “The first part of my life was about me. I’ve got to do things now that are for the world, “ he told the assemblage at Stockton University.

Schwarzenegger said he was impressed with Stockton’s work. “Stockton University is known for its work studying the Holocaust and fighting hate and fighting for inclusion,” he said, as was reported in the article on the Stockton University web site.

President Harvey Kesselman presented Schwarzenegger with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree. The Stockton University web site reported that Kesselman said, “This morning, we honor an individual whose artistic career, dedication to public service and extensive philanthropy exemplify Stockton’s values. He is one of the most extraordinary individuals of our time, whose commitment and success in the entertainment industry, and his government, public policy and non-profit work has earned him a place among Stockton’s.”

 

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