What’s the Story with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Belt Buckle?
June 25th, 2007I suppose it’s all just a coincidence that Arnold Schwarzenegger selected a belt buckle to wear—on the cover of a mass circulation news magazine—that features a human skull. Sure, Arnold’s dad was a Nazi and Arnold denies that he admired Hitler and liked to pretend to be an SS officer, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary, and yeah, the skull and crossbones (Totenkopf) happened to be associated with the Schutzstaffel-Totenkopf, or SS Death’s Head units, the Nazis responsible for the operation of the Third Reich’s concentration camps…
But that’s all just got to be a coincidence.
Pick up a copy of the June 25, 2007 Time Magazine and check it out for yourself. (I actually had to get a friend of mine to verify this for me by looking at an actual copy of the magazine. There’s not enough resolution in the online image of the Time cover to be useful.
Update: Prisonplanet provides a scan of the buckle.
Research Credit: EG
38 Responses to “What’s the Story with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Belt Buckle?”
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June 25th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
You shouldn’t mistake fiction with facts – the common problem in USA.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/p.....ther_x.htm
His father was in the Nazi party after the so-called “Blumenfeldzug” (“flower-war”, because there was no defense at all) and he was a member of the SA and this isn’t a war crime, because the SA (SA != SS) was a paramilitary group of the usual bullies in town. The relationship between Schwarzenegger and his father wasn’t a friendly one.
It’s a bad sign to spread such things without *real* prove because you don’t like this person. With lot of dead native Americans and black people in your glorious US-history I wouldn’t accuse people just because someone *believes* he has a prove.
I’m very left winged and German, I do see real people who are eager to spread this bullshit day by day – so-called Neo-Nazis. So this is a *real* problem in Germany to some extent, but this of yours is just fiction.
Last not least, German Neo-Nazis get most of their flags, signs, books etc. from the USA, because there you can easily produce such crap. In Germany it’s not allowed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15702868/
June 25th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I think that’s a vote for coincidence, but I’m not sure…
June 25th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I fly the Jolly Roger on occasion. Its a political statement. It involves a skull.
I am not a nazi.
June 25th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Well, at least he hasn’t, yet, become a UN secretary general or president of his own country, a-la Waldheim. Must be an Austrian thing.
June 25th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I wouldn’t say it’s a vote for coincidence, it’s more a vote for further thinking about such details – therefore my saying looks maybe somewhat “confusing”. I try to look from different angels. I cannot look in Schwarzeneggers mind.
In the end I don’t think he would be such a moron to do such things in publicity, if he has got such an attitude he will spread such things maybe in his politic activities, but with a more subtle nature.
We have got a lot of somewhat “right-winged” politicians, you see their attitude because of their activities, not because of some signs.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
He may simply like the skull image; that doesn’t make him a Nazi, anymore than “dog,” saying he is a “left-wing German” makes him a left-wing German. However, he didn’t “accidentally” don this belt buckle. He chose to wear it for one, or more, of any number of possible reasons –anything from being asked by the photographer to wear it as part of the shoot, or because he’s trying to send a message.
One thing is certain: this buckle was meant to appear this way in this photo. This is a studio shot. The image was planned and arranged. Arnold, Bloomberg, the photographer, and Time Magazine all had to know about the buckle and agree they wanted it in the shot. The photographer may have suggested it as a joke, who knows, but it is a deliberate choice for the buckle to be a part of the image on this cover, not an accident.
June 25th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
It looks more pirate than nazi to me
June 25th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
me: Maybe he’s “The Punisher” ever think of that?
someone else: about as much evidence.
me: More even
someone else: i think it’s more plausible
someone else: dear god. arnold is the punisher
me: He’s an actor, the person who played the punisher in a movie was an actor!
someone else: wait.
me:
someone else: i saw him wearing a black shirt once…
someone else: and there was a guy in one of the punisher books…
someone else: who was in the background
someone else: selling hotdogs
someone else: to a stranger
someone else: and that guy had on a black shirt
me: That’s it! You’ve cleared the whole thing up. It’s not that he hates Jews. He just likes hotdogs.
someone else: the end
June 25th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I would say that its a vote for the Heisenberg theory of historical uncertainty. People disagree over who killed Kennedy and why; people disagree over whether Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard. The uncertainty arises over the involvement of mere individuals, rather than large masses of people; thus you cannot say the same for events that involved millions of people like the various historical genocides and enslavements. There is simply too much evidence to cover up.
@Dog: You have point, but I’m not sure Arnie isn’t a sympathizer; a lot of people have made comments about him, including people who worked in the body-building industry. For most people, its unthinkable to even jokingly apologize for the Nazis; think of the controversy surrounding Mel Brooks’ films lampooning them. That being said, the Nazis took a lot of their cues from the U.S., including Manifest Destiny, genocide, and triumphalist historical revisionism. And then you have the U.S. funding them as a bulwark against Communism.
But see, even that’s not accurate. We’re mainly talking about wealthy and powerful individuals funding these causes; like two bored rich people paying trainers to train pitbulls to fight each other. The trainers get money, one of the pitbulls dies, and one rich person is out some money.
What I find equally interesting is the framing of the picture, and the fact that Arnie is behind Bloomberg, who is Jewish, with his arm around him, in a quasi-menacing pose. I wonder if Jewish people see that and get paranoid.
June 25th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Walmart was selling Totenkopf tee shirts a few months ago in another stunning coincidence. I would rate this logo just below the swastika in association with the third reich. Why are people displaying it so prominently? Who exactly is Arnold trying to appeal to?
http://consumerist.com/consume.....264990.php
June 26th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Kind of like Wal-mart’s marketing of “biker” gear showcasing the iron cross. I know the Iron cross predates the nazis (as does the swastika), but seriously. Its kind of a “swastika lite” for people wanting to be ballsy and edgy, but not willing to get their heads caved in for wearing a full blown swastika.
June 26th, 2007 at 3:41 am
KOSHER DEATH STAR
If you haven’t seen this already you’ll want to read the whole thing. Rowan Berkeley, formerly the most astute commenter at Xymphora before the comments experienced a code 88, has posted a story about a massive high-tech Israeli combat simulating training center, built almost entirely with American money and expertise. Sounds like a perfectly climate-controlled facility the Uss Mick has at Quantico for testing new toys. It also just happens to be an unmitigated carcinogenic environmental disaster. It gives the Bedu cancer today and tomorrow will kill Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians allergies to steel — what efficiency! Israeli environmentalists are upset about the ecological effects of the Kosher Death Star, called the MALI.
June 26th, 2007 at 6:35 am
You’ll also notice that he wears pants, as did Hitler!
And he breaths air, as did Hitler!
I even hear, he eats vegtables, as did Hitler!
I think it’s safe to say, that given all these behaviors and the fact that the Skull & CrossBones has never been used by anybody before or since the NAZIs, we can be 107% sure that Arnold is Hitler reincarnated!
June 26th, 2007 at 11:13 am
“If you look too hard for something, you are sure to eventually find it” – Confucius
June 26th, 2007 at 11:35 am
@11
“I know the Iron cross predates the nazis”
The iron cross stands for some military nonsense since about 1800 in Prussia (Preußen), it’s nowadays a sign of the Germany army (Bundeswehr). So there isn’t any connection to Nazi Germany apart from silly movies.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi.....r_Logo.svg
Reducing people to symbols is just stupid.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:55 am
The point the naysayers here are missing is that someone with a high profile, from an erstwhile Nazi country (Austria), with a lot of negative allegations about Nazi sympathies of which he is undoubtedly aware, would most likely not just wear such symbolism for a Time magazine cover shot without giving some thought to its connotations.
@ fallout11: “There are none so blind as those who WILL not see”.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Even many Cryptogon readers will dig their own graves when the time comes. Incredible.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Nazis and Jewish Billionaires…friends to the very end.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I’m not going to stop flying my Jolly Roger on the off-chance a poorly educated man would confuse it for a nazi symbol.
His ignorance is not my cross to bear.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
@ West:
There were pirates waaay before there were Nazis, so I think you’d have precedent on your side in any argument with the poorly educated.
Course, the poorly educated will probably have loud voices, baseball bats, and sheer numbers on their side, but as long as it’s a Jolly Roger you’re flying and not a peace sign, you should be okay…
:/
June 26th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Sometimes a belt buckle is just a belt buckle.
June 26th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Bllomberg is jewish!!!!
June 26th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Karin:
indeed, but that’s a different problem.
Powerful nazis quite rarely wear t-shirts emblazoned with “i am a nazi.” On the other hand, the skull has been a popular image for oh, a few thousand years (at least). It is *not necessarily* indicative of political proclivities.
Fin.
June 26th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Hard to believe the lame comments here “pro” Arnold and the Death Head . . . Enron got him the job he currently has and, as astutely stated above, the photo was purposeful and posed – - he knows the base he is trying to reach, in fact some of them posted above . . . . I am sure he will be there for you as it all crumbles around you just like . . . .
June 26th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I don’t like to run people down, but only a flat-out dipshit would believe that ANYTHING involved in a photo shoot for the cover of such a high-profile publication (read: advertisement) involving such a high-profile persona (and associated interests) would be left to chance and therefore couldn’t be considered coincidence… consider:
http://www.egan-martinez.com/food.htm
“In the world of commercial photography, video and film, nothing can be left to chance…”
I’m sure any commercial photography book or course would chant the same mantra…
Don’t forget, the cover of Time magazine is definitely advertising SOMETHING!
And for some more Arnie photo fun:
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gm.....por_1.html
June 27th, 2007 at 12:27 am
@ QD
“only a flat-out dipshit would believe that ANYTHING involved in a photo shoot for the cover of such a high-profile publication (read: advertisement) involving such a high-profile persona (and associated interests) would be left to chance and therefore couldn’t be considered coincidence”
HAHA
That’s right on the money.
Most of the idiots who think this is some coincidence don’t know anything about this level of photography. In a past life, I was a student at Brooks Institute of Photography and I worked on several shoots that weren’t even remotely as high profile as this, and, believe it or not: every single element is intentional in a shot like this.
I really don’t care about the emotional opinions of ignorant twits, this is just FYI for those of you who are interested. If you think that this isn’t the case, get accepted to the top photography school in the U.S. (Brooks or RIT depending on the day of the week), take some classes in portraiture or product photography and then get back to me.
June 27th, 2007 at 12:45 am
I’m going to agree with qd and Kevin here, anyone who can’t see this one has their head in the sand. Let me adjust my foil hat for a moment and add that symbolism goes way back in history. I believe that this symbol was purposely displayed in order to seduce sheeple, (the people in the middle), to adopt the symbol. The more it is displayed the more powerful it becomes, towards the aims of the consciousness who devised it. This world is way more strange than we can even understand.
June 27th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I feel I must weigh in on this as well. Anyone who thinks that belt buckle isn’t sinister is clearly in denial. What happened to political correctness? That belt buckle is in no way PC. Yet, here we find it being explicitly displayed in an image of a man plagued by allegations of Nazism while embracing another man whose very cultural history should make him shudder at its sight.
Bloomberg is more than old enough to have a direct connection to the very horrors of the Nazi Jewish exterminations. Yet here he is, arm in arm, with the governor of California, who’s wearing a Nazi symbol to hold up his trousers. Somebody is trying to tell those who’ll listen something. Both those wanting to hear the clarion call to order and those who fear the very evil such a craven image belies.
Make no mistake, this choice of imagery is not accidental. Perhaps subconscious, but not accidental. For those who persist in arguing the contrary, as per Kevin’s observation, I’ve got a great deal in a good line of shovels. Only one previous owner.
June 27th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Just to add to Kevin’s remarks on photography…
In this digital age, an image like this would also be post-processed. Every element in the photo would be tweaked in Photoshop. If nothing else, the buckle would probably be tweaked for contrast. Every part of this image would be examined and tweaked before it ever got sent to a printing press. Just look at how some typical portrait photographers process their images. Some routinely make twenty or more changes in post-processing that require scrutiny of the entire image. Furthermore, for a shot like this one, the photographer probably got a release from both men, to cover his ass.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:08 am
The point is that Arnold is a person who grew up in post-WWII Austria, he would be well aware of the meaning of this symbol. He is wearing a suit and if he wanted to wear an out of place belt buckle he could have easily chosen a Texas style cowboy belt buckle, or even a belt buckle shaped like California or the good old USA, instead he chose a Nazi symbol. One he knew well would send a signal to those who are in the know. Its clear that he did it on purpose. Why? I have no idea. But I think it belittles the man’s intelligence to say he wouldn’t understand the association, he’s a baby boomer from post Nazi Austria he knows damn well what he’s doing.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Arnie and the rest of the in-crowd are so close to where they want to be that they can now relax and be openly “in your face” when it comes to the jackbootery that we’re on the cusp of. I take his belt buckle as a sign of the times.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Have any of ya’ll even noticed the title of the article?
“Who need’s Washington”
The buckle is just the thumbprint. The ‘big-picture’ of that cover is that it is a mock..the self-proclaimed global masters announcing that their Tower of Babel is ready to go.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
No coincidence here. It’s intentional — a symbolic “f-you” with accompanying middle finger to the world that the One World Order is increasing its power.
AS (or should I say ASS?) is a good candadte for the antichrist role. He’s already massively popular around the world. And he could become the first president of the UN (and thus the world) and not even have to worry about being born in the USA.
June 30th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Why are so many sheeple ready to even consider coincidence. Is it a coincidence when you put your close on or is it a direct action you take. FDR said nothing happens by coincidence especially amoung politicians. Are you going to think he just happened to pick up a skull and bones nazi belt buckle to fastoon himself with and it is coincidence that he is progeny of nazi germans and coincidence that he has made statements that he admires Hitler? Go back to bed America you government is in control. Especially of your mind.
June 30th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
what about the ring?? masonic??
July 24th, 2007 at 6:19 am
Yeaah, I definitely noticed the ring and it is also nazi. I think it’s Thule Society.
Also, it’s good to see at least half of u posting are awake. 2 yrs ago it woul’ve been 1 in 10.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Who Needs Washington is a signal of the break up of the US.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Dog, you are the one here spreading bullshit. The SA (aka Brown Shirts) intimidated and murdered political opponent and instigated the national progrom against Jews called Kristallnacht. I suspect you don’t want Schwarzenegger outed, because you have your own agenda which may not be quite socially acceptable. You people ought to crawl back in the hole where you came from.