Schwarzenegger to Represent U.S. at State Funeral

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will lead the U.S. delegation to Saturday’s state funeral for Austrian President Thomas Klestil, a longtime friend of the California governor, the White House announced Thursday.

“I am honored to lead the presidential delegation to pay tribute to a great leader,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “Maria and I extend our deepest condolences to President Klestil’s family and the people of Austria. Thomas Klestil devoted his life to the service of his country, and his achievements on behalf of Austria will never be forgotten. He was a dear friend to me and will be greatly missed.”

Schwarzenegger, who has been locked in negotiations over the overdue state budget in Sacramento, was scheduled to fly today to Vienna.

He will represent President Bush at a Mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna on Saturday morning, and at a graveside ceremony in Vienna’s Central Cemetery on Saturday afternoon. He will return to California on Sunday.

Klestil died Tuesday of multiple organ failure, two days before his second six-year term in the largely ceremonial post was set to expire.

Klestil spent much of his career as an Austrian diplomat based in the United States. In 1969, he established a consul general’s post for Austria in Los Angeles, where the future president and future governor became friends, according to a friend of Schwarzenegger’s.

Schwarzenegger’s leadership of the delegation highlights not only his status as America’s most famous Austrian but also his deep ties to the political class of his native country.

The California governor, who retains his Austrian citizenship even though he became an American in 1983, has been involved behind the scenes in Austrian politics for years. Before he ran for office in California, media reports in the U.S. and Europe speculated on whether Schwarzenegger would enter politics in Austria.

Alfred Gerstl, the former leader of the upper chamber of Austria’s Parliament, is a lifelong friend of Schwarzenegger’s. Gerstl and his wife have sat in on gubernatorial meetings in Sacramento and in Los Angeles.

During a trip to California this year, Herbert Paierl, the minister of economic affairs in the governor’s home province of Styria, described Schwarzenegger as an important backer of the center-right People’s Party, of which Klestil was a member.

Klestil has been credited with restoring the image of the Austrian presidency after his predecessor, Kurt Waldheim, endured worldwide criticism -- including refusal of admission to the U.S. -- for his Nazi past. Klestil openly talked about Austrian complicity in the Holocaust and made a visit to Israel during his first term.

Waldheim was invited to Schwarzenegger’s wedding in 1986. Waldheim did not attend, and Schwarzenegger later declared that the invitation had been a mistake.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, praised Klestil on Thursday. He said the Austrian president met with Wiesenthal on Wiesenthal’s 90th birthday, worked with the center on various issues and had been blunt about Austria’s history.

“We thought very highly of President Klestil,” said Hier, who had met Klestil and is a friend of Schwarzenegger’s.

“It’s a good choice that the governor is representing the United States. The governor is someone who obviously knows the country and also knows President Klestil.”