I,
like many of those from my generation, grew up reading the Harry Potter
series. The series introduced me
to many complex concepts that helped guide my understanding of the world
throughout my childhood. People
often point to the important themes like dealing with death and doing what is
right versus what is easy, but I would argue that Harry Potter also helped
introduce me to the very difficult notion of genocide. I do not know how old I was when I
first started drawing connections between Voldemort’s persecution of
muggle-borns and Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, but it is definitely a
connection I discussed with other members of family. Both Hitler and Voldemort focus obsessively on the notion of
blood purity. Just as the
genealogy of Jews was very closely examined in Germany, the Ministry of Magic
establishes a Muggle-Born Registration Commission, which relies heavily the
atmosphere of fear and nepotism seen in Nazi Germany. By confiscating muggle-borns’ wands, the Ministry prevented
muggle-borns from being able to make a living in the magical world, similar to
how Germans destroyed and boycotted Jewish owned shops. Additionally, both muggle-borns and
Jewish Germans were banned from the school systems. Though Voldemort never implemented systematized mass-murder,
reports of unprovoked deaths and disappearances of muggle-borns and their
allies were frequent during Voldemort’s reign. By introducing young audiences to these dark concepts,
Rowling helps readers develop an understanding of the dangerous implications of
systemized prejudice. Voldemort is
a very archetypal modern villain, resembling many of the authoritarian leaders
of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In reading Harry Potter, children (hopefully) learn to judge
people by the nature of their character and not the purity of their blood. They also learn to recognize and
protest the types of language and actions that can progress into full-blown
genocide. The Harry Potter series
is an effective way to introduce young audiences to the concept of genocide, a
concept that is essential to understand when studying the recent history of the
world.
While I agree with all the similarities you mentioned, I don't know if it is helpful to introduce children to the concept of genocide through the idea of Muggle vs wizard. Isn't there -actually- a fundamental difference between having magic powers and not having magic powers, while there exists no such difference between races/ethnicities (that is, magic powers are not socially constructed, but are actually inherent from birth.) By comparing an inherent trait, like possessing magic powers or not, to a social construct like race, aren't we then giving legitimacy to racial theory?
ReplyDeleteI agree strongly with this post. As a great lover of Harry Potter, I was also raised on the books and they do serve as introductions to more complicated concepts that are present in human society (not just wizard society). I understand the point that Hadas is making in that there is a tangible difference in the Harry Potter books between wizards and non-wizards -- wizards have magic and non-wizards don't, and that is an actual difference between them, as race would not be. However, I view Voldemort's obsession with purity of blood and his persecution of witches and wizards who simply happened to have some non-magic blood in them, or were even born completely of non-magic blood as comparable to genocide. Voldemort's persecution of purely non-magic persons would be persecuting those with a true difference, but I think that more than persecuting "muggles", Voldemort more so wants to purify the wizard race. I view Voldemort's main objective as making sure that those who practice magic are only those with 100% pure magic blood, even if you have the same abilities and do not have pure magic blood. In this way, Voldemort is creating an "other" within the wizarding community and then setting out to wipe out that "other", which consists of those who have magic and practice it, but do not have purely magical blood. I know this is a fantasy analogy, but I think it is fitting because of Voldemort's goal of wiping out those without magic blood.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Audrey and Rue here. The villain in this series focuses much more on the cleansing of the wizarding race, and not of the human race. The goal is to eliminate the muggle-born wizards, who have all the same talents and skills and ability to learn, but because of their birth they are considered inferior. I would love for someone to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Voldemort was much more accepting in the opposite case - in the context of 'squibs,' who were born to wizarding parents but unable to do magic. Even if they were persecuted as well, there was much less of a concentration there because they did likely have pure blood, they just lacked the ability.
ReplyDeleteI also think it's important to compare Voldemort to Hitler in particular, and the fact that the ideals they sought out were not necessarily ones they possessed themselves - as was the case with some of their supporters. For example, Voldemort's quest is to eliminate all of those who are not pure of blood - and though he is a descendant of one of the most famous wizards of all times, he is also (importantly) only a 'half-blood.' His own father was a muggle, meaning that Voldemort's blood isn't pure itself. Severus Snape, initially a supporter of Voldemort, was also a half-blood, and referred to himself as the Half-Blood Prince. However, neither of these men live up to the standards they have set. It is the same with Hitler: he did not look Aryan with his dark hair and eyes, he was not a big strapping man - what he was was a powerful speaker, and therefore able to manipulate people into striving for what he desired and forgetting that he didn't necessarily fit in the same way.
I think that with these important similarities, Aubrey is right in viewing the series as an introduction to genocides for the younger audiences. Even though this is a fantasy series, it is widely read and influential and does demonstrate the importance of general acceptance instead of physical discrimination.
Actually, we can draw Browning's article into this pretty well. According to Browning, there were three stages of genocide, the first of which wanted to "purify the German people of those they deemed to be biologically defective or 'degenerate' members," including those considered biologically/hereditarily defective, homosexuals, and the Sinti and Roma. I think this does kind of contrast with Voldemort's reign, assuming that I'm correct in saying that squibs were not targeted (sorry, I can't be bothered to look this up). Squibs should be considered defective members of society, and therefore sterilized, but instead Voldemort targeted specifically those considered "mudbloods."
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