The point of this blog is to show a comparison between the events of World War II, and the influence it had on the Harry Potter series by English author, JK.Rowling.
The much loved
Harry Potter series written by British author, J. K. Rowling was first
published in 1997 with the first of seven books Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone. Although the books are set
in a fantasy world created from the author’s imagination, the characters can be
related to on an emotional level, while some settings and plotlines draw
comparisons with real life events and people. The most prominent resemblance is
those of the Dark Lord Voldemort and Adolf Hitler.
It is revealed in the sixth book Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince
that Voldemort’s, once known as Tom Riddle Jnr prejudice started from an early
age. Through a memory we learn that eleven year old Tom Riddle holds resentment
against his mother for dying after giving birth, and leaving him to be raised
in a Muggle orphanage. Tom is thoroughly convinced that his mother could not:
‘have been magical, or she wouldn’t have died” (Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, pg. 257),
so it had to have been his father that was the wizard. When he
eventually learns that his father was in fact non-magical, Riddle’s hatred grew
but this time was aimed at Tom Riddle Snr. It is because of this that he
changes his name from Tom, the only link he has to his father, and a name he
despised for being too common, to Lord Voldemort.
While Voldemort’s regime was against
Muggles, Muggleborns and Halfbloods; believing them to be of dirty blood and
inferior to the much more supreme Pureblood race, he himself is not a pureblood
wizard. Due to his father’s Muggle status, Voldemort is one of the very things
he despises: a Halfblood. This insecurity parallels him to that of Adolf Hitler
who was born to a Jewish family in 1889, but did not have the features of which
he worshipped.
Born 20 April, 1889, Adolf Hitler
was the illegitimate child of Maria Schicklgruher and Alois Hitler. He was born
in Austria, and later moved to Germany at the age of three. After a failed
attempt at seizing power, Hitler was imprisoned during which time he started
writing the book Mein Kampf (My
Struggle) within which he described, in detail his beliefs and values.
In 1934,
Hitler became the Führer and Chancellor
of Germany, and passed policies like the Nuremburg law that revoked the civil
rights of the Jews, as he deemed them a substandard race compared to that of
the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Aryan Race who Hitler promoted as being the
‘master race,’ the Aryan race were said to be physically stronger and of most
importance because of their racial purity, whereas Jewish people were said to
have contaminated blood just as the Muggleborns of the Harry Potter universe;
the term ‘Mudblood’ is a racial insult used by Purebloods when talking about
Muggleborn witches and wizards, as proven by Draco Malfoy on more than one
occasion when he has been talking about Muggleborn witch, Hermione Granger:
“It’s about the most insulting thing he could think of,” gasped Ron, “Mudblood is a really foul name for someone who was Muggleborn – you know, non-magic parents” (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, pg. 89). The actual word, as Ron Weasley explains in the Chamber of Secrets is a: “disgusting thing to call someone…Dirty blood, see. Common blood” (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 89).
It is no accident
that the Malfoy family are described as having platinum blonde hair, and being
of pureblood status, while Hermione Granger is a smart Muggleborn with brown
hair. Voldemort views those that do not
meet the respective pureblood criteria as a disease, has he says in the first
few chapters of Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows:
“… we should cut away the canker that infects us until only those of true blood remain…” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg17).#
Throughout
much of the final book, Muggleborns are reduced to nothing but blood status,
regardless of their skill as witch or wizard. But yet the prejudice of
Voldemort does not stop at just Muggles, Muggleborns and Halfbloods, it also
stems into ‘dark creatures’ such as Werewolves. He mocks Bellatrix Lestrange
with the news of her niece’s marriage to known werewolf, Remus Lupin, and does
not extend the same liberties to Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf in league with
Voldemort as he does many of his other followers. Voldemort’s disapproval for
werewolves aligned with that of Muggles is obvious as he says
“she would have us mate with Muggles… or, no doubt, Werewolves” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 18),
while speaking about Muggle Studies
professor, Charity Burbage. The striking comparisons between Voldemort and
Hitler’s beliefs are clear in blood purity, just as is their prejudice towards
those who do not meet their required standards.
Propaganda
of the magical world that was distributed by the corrupted Ministry of Magic is
comparable with that circulated by the Nazis to cut down and spread lies about
the Jewish people. Muggleborns were shown as being a
“green weed with fangs” and was said to be holding back the growth of the “red rose, with a simpering face in the middle of its petals” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 205).
The message is hard to miss;
Muggleborns pose a threat to the peaceful pureblood society, and were the weeds
that needed to be destroyed, just like the Jews were the mice that needed to be
exterminated.
Once more the propaganda of the
Harry Potter universe and that of Germany while under Hitler’s regime run
similar. The Nazis kept a register of people who were believed to be Jewish,
while the introduction of the Muggle Registration Commission was created by the
corrupt Ministry of Magic in 1997 forced people to prove they had ‘at least one close Wizarding relative’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
pg. 175). The Hog’s Head user, Lily Luna explains that the use of the word ‘Muggleborn’
in place of “Mudblood” is a ruse to lure Muggleborn witches and wizards into
complying with the new laws:
“This enhances people’s uncertainty about what has happened and lures Muggleborns into complying with the orders to register and show up in hope of appeasing the Ministry and showing compliance to the new laws. Similarly, the Jews during the Holocaust were lured into complying with directives to show up for ‘relocation East’ and similar blandishments that resulted in their deaths” (The Hog’s Head.org).
The Muggleborn Registration Commission is headed by Dolores Umbridge
who finds joy in the humiliation of Muggleborn witches and wizards, and has
proven herself prejudiced towards creatures such as Centaurs and Werewolves.
On
the 4th November, 1921, exactly three years after the end of World
War I, a Nazi rally was held. Large members of demonstrators against Hitler and
the Nazi party were prevented from disrupting the meeting by the SA soldiers,
who were on later slaughtered on the 30th June, 1934, a night
History later renamed ‘The Night of the Long Knives’ by Hitler’s personal
bodyguards the SS. Initially the SS had been a section of the SA, and had been
created in April 1925. They were considered to be the elite force, and
membership was restricted to only pure Aryan Germans.
Just as Hitler had the support of
the Nazis, Voldemort is supported by the Death Eaters, a group of witches and
wizards who were
“radical pureblood supremacists and who practised the Dark Arts with reckless abandon and without regard, or fear for Wizarding law. Lord Voldemort used this select group during the first and second Wizarding Wars, employing them as his elite force” (harrypotter.wikia.com),
the Death Eaters worshipped Purebloods, which is
ironic considering their master was a Halfblood, yet not all Death Eaters could
claim to be purebloods:
“The Death Eaters can’t all be purebloods, there aren’t enough pureblooded wizards left,” said Hermione stubbornly. “I expect most of them are halfbloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggleborns they hate” (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, pg. 227),
it is possible that many of them were halfbloods just clinging
onto their pureblood ancestors. One such example is Severus Snape, the son of a
Muggle man and a pureblood witch.
Although
some Death Eaters appeared to have been devotedly loyal to Voldemort, such as
Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jnr, most seemed to have served him mainly
out of fear. Immediately after his defeat in 1981, several Death Eaters revoked
their loyalty and did not attempt to find their master in the upcoming years.
In addition Voldemort is, as Hitler
was, a feared yet respected dictator as seen by the character of Wormtail, a
Death Eater who both worshipped and feared Voldemort. Wormtail’s feared loyalty
to his master is shown at the end of Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Wormtail sacrificed his own arm in
order to help Voldemort regain his fully body:
“You returned to me, not out of loyalty, but fear of your old friends. You deserve this pain, Wormtail, you know that, don’t you?” “Yet you helped return me to my body,” said Voldemort coolly, watching Wormtail sob on the ground. “Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me… and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers...” (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, pg. 563).
Becoming
a Death Eater means a lifetime of servitude to Voldemort with no opportunity to
hand in a resignation, if a situation looked grim, then deserters would be
marked for death as seen with Igor Karkaroff and Regulus Black, the younger
brother to Sirius Black. Those of the inner circle of Death Eaters have a Dark
Mark burned into their left forearms, a mark that was visually used to
distinguish themselves to Voldemort and each other. The Dark Mark is a
recognizable symbol of fear to everyone in the Magical world:
“It’s the Dark Mark, Harry.” “You-Know-Who’s sign?” (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 116),
this is comparable to the Nazi insignia: the
Swastika. The
history of the Swastika dates back as far as the Bronze Age, and holds
religious significance to Buddhism and Hinduism.
In addition to the Dark Mark, there
are similarities between the Swastika and the symbol of the Deathly Hallows; a
sign that was adopted by the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald to promote himself
and his belief of dominance over Muggles was
“for the Greater Good” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, pg. 294).
“They say, still, that no Wizarding duel ever matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 24).
While Voldemort may be the more noticeable
parallel between the events of Harry Potter and the Second World War; Gellert
Grindelwald is a more historical example to Adolf Hitler. There are many
striking resemblances between the specific details of WWII and the great battle
between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
For example, in the Wizarding world,
Grindelwald is known for being
“one of the greatest Dark Wizards of all time” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg.290),
and Hitler was said to be
“among one of the most ruthless dictators of the 20th century” (harryphilosophypotter.wikispaces.com);
the anti-Semitism displayed by Hitler
mirrors that of Grindelwald’s belief that wizards are naturally more superior
than Muggles and should dominate them for the good of all.
While
many consider Voldemort to be the start of the battle against Muggles and
Muggleborns, the actuality is that it started back before Voldemort was even
born. The fight for “the Greater Good”
started in the summer of 1899 when Gellert Grindelwald met seventeen-year-old
Albus Dumbledore while visiting his great aunt at Godric’s Hollow; both boys
were said to get on like
‘a cauldron on fire” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 291),
and shared a similar
passion for wizard dominance:
“Gellert, your point about wizard dominance before for the MUGGLES’ OWN GOOD – this, I think, is the crucial point, yes, we have the power and, yes, that power gives us the right to rule, but it also gives us responsibility over the ruled” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 291),
and secretly planned to
overthrow the statue of secrecy, and establish wizard rule over Muggles.
Between
the years of 1933 and 1945, concentration camps started to appear throughout
Nazi Germany, they were said to be a vital feature of the system, and were
initially created to detain Jews and political prisoners, the Nazi slogan
“Arbeit Macht Frei” which translates into “Work Makes One Free” was said to
hang above the entrances to the camps, and draws parallels with the prison
Nurmengard, a place that was set up by Grindelwald to hold his opponents; the
words “For the Greater Good” were carved above the entrance. The defeat of
Grindelwald in 1945, directly corresponds with the year that World War II
ended.
The historical events
and people involved proved to be useful in the understanding of certain
concerns that still plague the world today. It is through these events that we
learn that every person, regardless of blood status, is equally important.
