Schwarzenegger was born on July 30, 1947 in Thal,
Styria, the son of Aurelia (née Jadrny; July 29, 1922 – August 2, 1998) and
Gustav Schwarzenegger (August 17, 1907 – December 13, 1972). Gustav was the
local chief of police and had served in World War II as a Hauptfeldwebel after
voluntarily joining the Nazi Party in 1938, though he was discharged in 1943
following a bout of malaria. He married Aurelia on October 20, 1945; he was 38
and she was 23. According to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were very
strict: "Back then in Austria it was a very different world ... if we did
something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not spared."
Schwarzenegger grew up in a Roman Catholic family who attended Mass every
Sunday.
Gustav had a preference for his elder son, Meinhard
(July 17, 1946 – May 20, 1971), over Arnold. His favoritism was "strong
and blatant", which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not
his biological child. Schwarzenegger has said his father had "no patience
for listening or understanding your problems". He had a good relationship
with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death. In later life,
Schwarzenegger commissioned the Simon Wiesenthal Center to research his
father's wartime record, which came up with no evidence of Gustav being
involved in atrocities, despite his membership in the Nazi Party and SA.
Gustav's background received wide press attention during the 2003 California
recall campaign. At school, Schwarzenegger was reportedly academically average,
but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humored, and exuberant"
character. Money was a problem in their household; Schwarzenegger recalled that
one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator.