i read that Arnold’s parents Gustav Schwarzenegger and Aurelia Jadrny were from working class families. Gustav was the police inspector and Aurelia was a clerk and a war widow.
They met each other and Aurelia used to give some food to Gustav everyday while he used to pass by her window where Aurelia was a clerk. They married and Aurelia became a house wife.
Meinhard was their first child and a year later Arnold was born. It was a year of famine in Austria. There were hunger riots in Vienna. Arnold’s mother used to go from house to house to gather some food.
Once his mother carried Meinhard on her back and walked to the local hospital which was far away from their village Thal. Meinhard had pneumonia. They had all the common diseases when they were children and their mother took care of them. She was a strong, hard and sturdy woman. She took lots of pain to bring up Meinhard and Arnold.
Arnold’s father had to go to serve in the wars and he had bitter experiences and he came back a frustrated man. Whenever Arnold asked him about the experiences in the war he dismissed it and said there was nothing to talk about.
He used to get drunk and quarrel with his wife Aurelia and had fights but they never lasted and the next day they’d make up and become calm.
They were a struggling family but close to each other. Arnold’s father was very strict and taught them lots of discipline. He was a ice skiing champion and he played music too in the local police band. But the genetics of music never got to Arnold or Meinhard.
Since they were sons of the police inspector they’d often watch their dad with the criminals and they grew up on horrible folk stories in their childhood which Arnold writes he’d never tell them to his own kids since they were tales of witches and goblins.
