Arnie gets a postal stamp

2004-07-17 22:06

Vienna - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger can expect a €1 birthday gift from the postal service in his home country.

A stamp of that denomination honouring the Austrian-born movie star-turned-politician will be released on July 30, Schwarzenegger's 57th birthday, the postal service said in a statement on its website.

The stamp features a portrait of a serious-looking Schwarzenegger in a suit and tie in front of the US and Austrian flags. It also bears his name, the word Austria in English and the number 100, signifying that it is worth 100 cents.

Designed by Hannes Margreiter, the Schwarzenegger stamp is part of a collectors' series called "Austrians living abroad" and will be printed in 600 000 copies, the postal service said.

Originally from the village of Thal, Schwarzenegger made his first visit to Austria as California governor last weekend, when he represented the United States at the state funeral of President Thomas Klestil.

Schwarzenegger also met privately with Simon Wiesenthal, the Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter. The Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal centre, which has an office in Vienna, helped Schwarzenegger research his father's past as a Nazi storm trooper.

Schwarzenegger remains hugely popular in his home country, and a sports stadium in the southern city of Graz - near his birth village - has been named after him.

- AP