Arnold Schwarzenegger will receive the Holocaust Museum LA’s „Award of Courage” in appreciation of his fight against antisemitism.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been fighting hate, antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry. For his work in opposing this phenomenon, he will receive the Holocaust Museum LA’s „Award of Courage”, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Fighting against antisemitism is deeply rooted in his Austrian ancestry: Schwarzenegger was born in Austria to a father who joined the Nazi party during World War II and was injured fighting in Leningrad.
„I’ve talked a lot about my father and the broken men that I was surrounded by when I grew up in Austria after World War II,” Schwarzenegger said in a video he posted in March in response to rising rates of antisemitism.
„Nobody who has chosen the easy path of hate has gotten to the end of that road and said, ‘Oh, what a life.’ No. They die as miserably as they lived.”
In the video, Schwarzenegger recounted a trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp, describing it as a horrifying experience, adding that imagining him in the place of those who were deported was „one of the darkest moments” of his life.
Schwarzenegger will receive the award from the LA Holocaust Museum at its 15th annual gala on November 6 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In an announcement, the museum said that „[Schwarzenegger’s] personal commitment to fighting antisemitism and extremism and his leadership were instrumental in convening the many experts to address this issue.”