July 30

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

July 30, 1947

Birth of Austrian-American body building champion and film star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger was born in Graz, Austria. He won the Mr. Europe title in 1966 and the Mr. Universe in 1967. He immigrated to the United States in 1968 and became a major film star in Hollywood. Popular Schwarzenegger films are Pumping Iron (1977), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Terminator (1984) and Jingle all the Way (1996).

July 30, 1967

Death of the industrialist Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach in Essen, Germany. In 1943 he became sole owner of the Krupp works (steel). He worked closely with the Nazi government during WWII and exploited the situation for his own profit. He was tried for war crimes in Nürnberg. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and had to forfeit all property. With the cold war, however, and the perceived need for his skills, he was granted amnesty by the U. S. authorities and all of his holdings were restored. By the 1960s he had a fortune of over a billion dollars.

July 30, 1976

Death of the theologian, Rudolf Bultmann in Marburg, Germany. Bultmann was a New Testament scholar who sought to demythologize the New Testament. He was a professor at the University of Marburg. From 1922-1928 the philosopher, Martin Heidegger, was also at Marburg and had considerable influence on Bultmann's thought.

July 30, 1977

Terrorists murder the head of the Dresdener Bank, Jürgen Ponto. (Although it bears the name of a city in East Germany, the Dresdener Bank was at that time a West German Bank with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main.)