Theodore Roosevelt once wisely said, “I believe that the more you know about the past, the better you are prepared for the future.” Perhaps this is why oftentimes authors reflect upon past events in their writing. By putting their own twist upon history, they are teaching us all valuable lessons and educating us about how we can avoid making the same mistakes as we did in the past. J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, did just this by modeling her character, the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, after Adolf Hitler, perhaps one of the world’s most malevolent dictators. Throughout the Harry Potter series, we can see many parallels between the respective rises to power of Lord Voldemort and Adolf Hitler in post World War I Germany. These
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Both often used many forms of propaganda and censoring of the press to manipulate the thoughts of those around them. Hitler’s use of propaganda was most frequently used to degrade the Jewish people, but it was also used to promote the Nazi Party and Hitler himself. This was achieved through the creation of posters, books, music, theater, art and film. All of the propaganda was centered around spreading the Nazi’s anti-Jewish and nationalistic messages and creating an air of acceptance throughout the German people towards these messages, in particular the more extreme beliefs towards the Jewish people. The propaganda depicted the Nazi Party as “restoring order” in Germany and created the illusion that the increasingly harsher measures being taken towards the Jewish population were necessary. Many films were created as propaganda to belittle the Jews and to promote the strength of the Aryan race whom Hitler praised. One such film was The Eternal Jew (1940), which showed Jews as being horrible people who were consumed with the idea of sex and money. This use of propaganda was successful in promoting the Nazi message and brainwashed many people into believing in the same ideals. As well as propaganda, Hitler censored the press in Germany to assure that everything he wanted the Germans to see, like the propaganda, were being seen and that nothing negative about the Nazi Party or himself was being viewed instead. This, along with Hitler’s military forces, kept people from opposing Hitler and made it much easier for him to rise to power and stay in power when he got there (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016). Likewise, Voldemort used propaganda and censoring of the press to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of the wizarding population. Similar to Hitler, his propaganda promoted his purist ideals and focused on the
Both often used many forms of propaganda and censoring of the press to manipulate the thoughts of those around them. Hitler’s use of propaganda was most frequently used to degrade the Jewish people, but it was also used to promote the Nazi Party and Hitler himself. This was achieved through the creation of posters, books, music, theater, art and film. All of the propaganda was centered around spreading the Nazi’s anti-Jewish and nationalistic messages and creating an air of acceptance throughout the German people towards these messages, in particular the more extreme beliefs towards the Jewish people. The propaganda depicted the Nazi Party as “restoring order” in Germany and created the illusion that the increasingly harsher measures being taken towards the Jewish population were necessary. Many films were created as propaganda to belittle the Jews and to promote the strength of the Aryan race whom Hitler praised. One such film was The Eternal Jew (1940), which showed Jews as being horrible people who were consumed with the idea of sex and money. This use of propaganda was successful in promoting the Nazi message and brainwashed many people into believing in the same ideals. As well as propaganda, Hitler censored the press in Germany to assure that everything he wanted the Germans to see, like the propaganda, were being seen and that nothing negative about the Nazi Party or himself was being viewed instead. This, along with Hitler’s military forces, kept people from opposing Hitler and made it much easier for him to rise to power and stay in power when he got there (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2016). Likewise, Voldemort used propaganda and censoring of the press to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of the wizarding population. Similar to Hitler, his propaganda promoted his purist ideals and focused on the