Schwarzenegger draws parallel between Jan. 6 and Kristallnacht.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Compares Jan. 6 to Kristallnacht

Movie star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has once again compared the Jan. 6 capital breach to Kristallnacht, the attack on the Jewish people that ultimately led to the Holocaust.

Schwarzenegger’s comments came Friday during an episode of CNN’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, when he defended his previous opinion that the two events were similar in that they both occurred because citizens were lied to. “The Terminator” actor, who strongly opposes former President Donald Trump, told Wallace that Americans are being misled the same way his own Nazi father was during World War II.

“Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass” took place on Nov. 9-10 in 1938. It’s estimated hundreds of Jews were killed when Nazi activists smashed Jewish-owned storefronts, thus the name “Kristallnacht,” which referred to all the broken glass on the streets. Synagogues were also set on fire while homes, schools, hospitals, and cemeteries were destroyed. While Jews were already being discriminated against in Germany, the incident instigated myriad arrests and deportations and the subjugation of 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. World War II broke out nine months later.

“I mean, I think that it is, of course, a different time and all that. But it is kind of like a threat to democracy and a threat of what happens to people when they’re lied to,” Schwarzenegger told Wallace after the news host queried him about whether or not the two incidents were a fair comparison.

Schwarzenegger, 73, responded, “Yes, absolutely.”

His comments came after Wallace played a portion of their previous interview and a speech Schwarzenegger made in January 2021 criticizing the incident and likening it to the Nazi takeover of his Austrian birthplace.

“And this is why I compared it to that. Because in Kristallnacht, I know my father, who was part of the Nazi party, they were lied to. They were misled. And I think a lot of people in America today are being misled,” added Schwarzenegger.

After it occurred, Nazi leaders falsely described Kristallnacht as an event prompted by an impulsive reaction to the assassination of German diplomat Ernst Vom Rath by a Jewish refugee. Pictures taken in the days after show Jewish shop owners cleaning up the resulting destruction.

Pointed Differences Exist Between Jan. 6 and Kristallnacht

Despite Schwarzenegger’s view, there are, however, several contrasts between the two events. Prior to the “Night of Broken Glass,” which claimed many lives, Jews were already discriminated against within Germany. The Capitol breach, which was a political incident, saw one person—protestor Ashli Babbitt—fatally shot by police, with four more people dying of other causes either during or following the event. It also occurred alongside a peaceful protest meant to put pressure on Congress to refuse to certify the presidential vote of the Electoral College.

Additionally, it didn’t set off violence nationwide, although it did occur after a summer full of anti-police riots in Democrat-backed cities across America.

And while according to the United States Departmen