The other night while doing research for the trip I found out that Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up in the village of Thal, a suburb of Graz.
Gustav, Arnold’s father, was a Stormtrooper during WWII and later served as a police chief in Graz.
On July 9, 1997, the City of Graz named its soccer stadium Arnold Schwarzenegger-Stadion to commemorate its most famous citizen. However, the stadium was renamed in 2005 following street protests in Graz after the Stanley Tookie Williams execution.
Graz citizens were upset that Schwarzenegger denied clemency for Williams on December 12, 2005. (The death penalty is outlawed in Austria, and it is widely unpopular with Austrians.)
In the midst of the street protests, Schwarzenegger issued a statement to Graz officials saying, “to spare the responsible politicians of the city of Graz further concern, I withdraw from them as of this day the right to use my name in association with the Liebenauer Stadium.”
The metal letters spelling out “Arnold Schwarzenegger-Stadion” were removed in late December 2005. The stadium is now named UPC-Arena.
The fallout of this whole mess is that Schwarzenegger no longer associates himself with Graz. On December 19, 2005, Schwarzenegger returned an honorary ring that Graz had presented him in 1999.
Here is a YouTube video I found with footage of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Stadion, and Schwarzenegger talking about growing up in Graz: