Film star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday took to social media to condemn last week’s US Capitol riots and compare it to Kristallnacht, a rampage in Germany in 1938 in which pro-Nazi mobs burned down synagogues and demolished Jewish-owned shops.  

In the video posted to Twitter on Sunday, Schwarzenegger narrated his experiences of growing up in Austria after World War II and collated it to what he was witnessing in the United States.

“Being from Europe, I’ve seen firsthand how things can spin out of control,” he said.

Although the 73-year-old argued that while others may fear something similar could happen in the United States, he did not feel the same.

“I do believe that we must be aware of the dire consequences of selfishness and cynicism,” he warned.

Schwarzenegger reminisced growing up surrounded by men who drank away their “guilt over their participation in the most evil regime in history.”

“My father and our neighbours were misled also with lies,” he said. “And I know where such lies lead.”

His father too, like many, would return home drunk once or twice a week, and “would scream and hit us and scare my mother,” he said.

‘The Terminator’ star said he hadn’t shared the painful memory so publicly before, but he chose to do so to underscore the “emotional pain” that these men experienced from what they saw or did.

Schwarzenegger linked the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol to Kristallnacht, describing the horrific attacks against Jews more than 80 years ago as carried out by “the Nazi equivalent of the Proud Boys.”

Within hours, the 7-minute video drew nearly 10 million views on Twitter.

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Schwarzenegger, a Republican, a critic of President Trump, described him in the video as a “failed leader” and the “the worst president ever.”

Citing the book written by former President John F. Kennedy called ‘Profiles in Courage’, Schwarzenegger lashed at the Republicans and said a number of them would never see their names featured in such a book because of “their own spinelessness.”

“We need to hold accountable the people who brought us to this unforgivable point,” he said.

In a call for bipartisanship, Schwarzenegger underscored the need for the nation’s healing.

Referring to his 1982 film “Conan the Barbarian,” he picked up a sword from his desk and said, “This is the Conan sword.”

A sword is tempered and strengthened by pounding it with a hammer and then heating and cooling it, he said.

“Our democracy is like the steel of this sword,” Schwarzenegger remarked. “The more it is tempered, the stronger it becomes.”