J.K. Rowling uses the Harry Potter series and, more specifically, the last book as an historical allegory for the World War II era. This historical theme allows the later novels to explore and attack racism and fascism more effectively. Although sometimes every aspect of Rowling’s characters does not fit correctly with every aspect of its historical counterpart, it is fairy easy to see the striking similarities. These similarities are more easily portrayed in the evil characters, as they are often the hardest to relate.
As the main villain, Voldemort is clearly a representation of Adolf Hitler. He is a worshiped, feared dictator. This is exemplified in all the books; for example, in book seven, Wormtail is asked to do something by Voldemort and, like everyone else, responds in a loyal but afraid way: “‘Yes, m-my Lord,’ gasped a small man halfway down the table, who had been sitting so low in his chair that it had appeared, at first glance, to be unoccupied. (HPDH 7)” Hitler was worshiped and feared as well; propaganda was constantly spread to the German people showing Hitler helping kids, but at the same time, the German people were not unaware of millions of missing citizens whom Hitler had killed or imprisoned.
Besides both being feared and worshiped, Hitler and Voldemort share similar birth conditions. Tom Riddle-Voldemort’s original name-had a muggle father. It is believed that Hitler’s father was Jewish, though this is unverified. With Hitler hating Jews and Voldemort hating half-wizards, one can speculate that they both hated a part of themselves. This is further reinforced by the fact that Hitler considered the Aryan race to be the epitome of perfection in humanity while Voldemort considered pure noble wizarding families to be the epitome of magical creatures, yet Hitler did not have blond hair like Aryans were supposed to have, and Voldemort was not a full wizard by his own standards.
Voldemort is the leader of the pure-blood sentiment, much like Hitler was the tangible leader of the anti-semitic sentiment. Voldemort, along with his supporters, voice their hatred for ‘mudbloods’ and half-wizards throughout the seven novels; in the seventh book, Voldemort speaks to Bellatrix and says, “‘Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time…You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? (HPDH 10)” Voldemort speaks of muggle blood as a disease similar to the scientific way Hitler attempted to persecute the Jewish people. Additionally, Hitler blamed the Jewish people for everything during his quasi political campaign much like Voldemort blames them.
Voldemort’s henchmen, the Death Eaters, are analogous to the Nazi soldiers as a whole. The Death Eaters are all branded with the Dark Mark, a skull and snake that signifies their allegiance to Voldemort and also acts as a summoning device. This is similar to the Nazi uniform and, more specifically, the inverted swastika for which they are notorious. Also, after the first wizarding war against Voldemort, many of the Death Eaters claimed to be under the Imperius curse, which controls the victim’s actions; similarly, many Nazis claimed to just be following orders and not knowing anything about the horrific concentration camps.
Not all the comparisons are as clear as Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Dumbledore seems to be based off of Winston Churchill loosely. Both Dumbledore and Churchill were strong British authority figures who were well respected, but, because of their alarmist views, they were shunned by the public. Churchill warned everyone of the dangers of Hitler but he was ignored, while Dumbledore spent the first six books trying to convince the wizarding community that Voldemort had truly returned. Even the wizarding community is much like the European population before World War II: The wizarding community was so reluctant to believe Voldemort’s return until he was right in its face because it was still recovering from the last war fourteen years earlier. Similarly, the European countries constantly appeased Hitler, from allowing him to make a huge army to not stopping him from invading Poland because everyone wanted to avoid another World War at all costs.
Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet are representations of the massive amounts of propaganda spread by the Nazis. Rita Skeeter’s Quick-Quotes-Quills distorted, fabricated, and censored anything for a specific agenda. The Daily Prophet quickly turned on Dumbledore as well. Hitler’s propaganda machine was known for rewriting books and doctoring photographs.
By allowing her characters-primarily villains-to be representations of real Historical figures, Rowling makes it easier for us to understand them. She is reminding us that prejudice is not dead and not just in the world of her fantasy story. There have been Voldemorts and Death Eaters of the real world and there probably will be again. Then the morale of her story is simplistic-discrimination is evil and present-yet it is presented in a complex story of half-wizards, house elves, and muggles. We learn to love the house elves and sympathize with the muggle and sometimes we even pity Voldemort and his misguided Death Eaters. These feelings we get are intentional from Rowling and through them we learn to hate real racism and prejudice but not to always fully condemn the perpetrators. Truly then, World War II’s great characters are an essential part of Harry Potter’s world.
