Harry Potter Portal into Fascism

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Portal into Fascism 

As Harry Potter grows older and the threat from Voldemort and the Death Eaters grows more imminent, the world in which he lives becomes more ugly and dangerous. Once Voldemort comes back into power at the end of The Goblet of Fire, the magical world that Harry loved so much becomes grim and dictatorial. He is tortured and hounded by Professor Umbridge and the media makes it sound like Harry is crazy for saying that Voldemort is back. Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven, but a place where “Inquisitorial Squads” roam the castle informing on students and where “Educational Decrees” oppress the students. In The Deathly Hallows Harry is “Undesirable Number One,” the most wanted outlaw in Voldemort’s world. He can’t even show his face anywhere and must live on the run bouncing from place to place to keep safe and to keep one step ahead of the Ministry, Death Eaters, and Snatchers. Not only is he an outlaw, but the entire wizarding world, a place that Harry loved, has turned into a world of fear and hate. Ordinary witches and wizards fear for their lives and for the lives of their loved ones. Opportunistic witches and wizards take advantage of all the fear and hate to raise themselves up by becoming Snatchers or informants at the Ministry of Magic. It’s a terrible time for Harry and his friends; he is hounded and harassed and his entire world is turned upside down.

What happens to Harry and Hogwarts in The Order of the Phoenix and what happens to the wizarding world in general in The Deathly Hallows are strong references to real world fascism, and especially to the fascism that arose in Europe leading up to, and during, World War II. This reference to fascism is a Harry Potter portal that leads us to a historical reality of “civilization” and humanity at its worst. The fascism of the mid-20th century was a horrible reality that the Harry Potter books tap into with the takeover of Hogwarts and the takeover of the Ministry.

Now let’s look at historical fascism and see how it relates to Harry and the wizarding world.

 

What is Fascism?

Fascism is defined as: “a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline…humiliation or victimhood…in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants…abandons democratic liberties and pursues with…violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.” (“The Anatomy of Fascism,” italics added).

Basically, fascism is one person or the state using violence, terror, propaganda, intimidation, and humiliation to achieve its goals, which are to be in total control and to maintain that control. People sometimes confuse fascism with dictatorships because they are similar. Fascist regimes, as we have seen them in real history, have been controlled by a strong, authoritarian leader. But fascism is a little different than a dictatorship because it uses a “mass party,” meaning a party of people devoted to that leader. 

Read the following description of fascism and see if you can recognize Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters as they acted in The Deathly Hallows:

“What made Fascism different from earlier dictatorships was the presence of a mass party that monopolized power through its security services and the army and that eliminated all other parties, using considerable violence in the process. This new style of party was headed by a leader who had virtually unlimited power, was adulated by his followers and was the focus of a quasi-religious cult. The party’s doctrine became an obligatory article of faith for not only its members but all other citizens and was constantly projected by means of a powerful propaganda machinery.” (Fascism, page 14, emphasis added).

The most well-known leader of a fascist party was Adolf Hitler. The policies that Hitler instituted in Germany during the 1930’s and 40’s were very similar to the ones that Lord Voldemort instituted at the Ministry of Magic in The Deathly Hallows.

But before Voldemort took over the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge introduced fascism into Harry’s world when she became the “High Inquisitor” of Hogwarts. 

 

Fascism In The Order of the Phoenix

The Hearing

Things start to go wrong for Harry, and we as readers start to feel that something is very wrong within the Ministry of Magic, when Harry is called before the Wizangamot for his “hearing.” This hearing is clearly a tactic to get rid of Harry, to silence him from speaking out about Voldemort’s return, and to discredit him. Cornelius Fudge does everything he can to create a situation in which Harry will be found guilty of his “crime.” Fudge does not care about giving Harry a fair trial. 

  • Fudge changes the time and place of the hearing without giving Harry or any of his protectors the time or opportunity to regroup.
  • He holds the hearing in front of the entire Wizengamot, although performing underage magic is not that big of a deal.
  • He constantly tries to rush through the hearing. He keeps saying that they don’t have all day, and that he wants to hurry and get to a vote.

It is clear that Fudge wanted not to hear evidence, but to find Harry guilty. He expects the other judges to agree with him. If it weren’t for Dumbledore’s intervention, Harry might very well have been found guilty. 

This is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany when Hitler and the Nazi party took over the courts. All judges were required to hand down judgments based on what Hitler or the party line would agree with. 

Another disturbing aspect of the hearing, one consistent with facism, was what Cornelius Fudge said to Dumbledore. Dumbledore points out that Fudge, in his “haste to ensure that the law is upheld…overlooked a few laws” himself. Fudge then says, “Laws can be changed” (OOTP, 149). This sets a dangerous precedent and is one of the fundamental processes of a fascist regime—changing the laws to suit the ruling party. 

 

Dolores Umbridge at Hogwarts

At Harry’s hearing, Dumbledore brings up the matter that the Ministry has no power to punish or expel students at Hogwarts. That was all to change when the Ministry decided to take over Hogwarts and control the education of the students. It did so in the person of Dolores Umbridge.

 

Umbridge: the Ministry’s Toady…

When Dolores Umbridge arrived at Hogwarts she was a tool of the Ministry of Magic. At this point the Ministry was not under the control of Voldemort, but was instead just trying to keep order and calm in the wizarding world by not allowing the knowledge of Voldemort’s return to become public. They did this by controlling what the Daily Prophet published, by making Harry look like he was crazy, and by sending Umbridge to Hogwarts to control what the students learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The Ministry, through Umbridge, eventually wrested control of Hogwarts from Dumbledore and then ran it like a fascist state. 

This is how real-life fascist leaders often come into control of the government; by working within it to create the right conditions for a takeover, and then at the right time taking down the leadership. This was how Hitler took over control of Germany. He began his career as an elected official, but managed to manipulate his way into power.  

   

Creating Distrust…

Another thing fascist regimes do is to create an atmosphere of distrust; it creates a community where people spy and inform on one another. People are asked and even encouraged to spy on one another. In the first DADA class Umbridge tells the students, “If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it” (OOTP, 245). This is the first instance in which she tells the students to spy on one another and to then tell the authorities about any wrong doing. 

 

And Fear

Umbridge refuses to allow the kids to do magic in her DADA class, which is another classic fascist tactic—take away the ability of the “masses” to protect themselves: “so we’re being prevented from learning Defense Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is scared we’ll use spells against the Ministry?” said Hermione, looking furious” (OOTP, 303). That is exactly what Fudge, the Ministry, and Umbridge are doing. They are scared of Dumbledore and Harry and the power they possess to overthrow the Ministry; although neither Dumbledore nor Harry have any desire to do any such thing at this point. That doesn’t matter because it is the belief that rebellion could happen that frightens the ruling party. 

A fascist regime is all about fear—the ruling party fears that the people will get out of hand and take over, and so they use the threat of punishment to hold people down and keep them from doing anything. Ordinary people are afraid of the punishment, which is usually extraordinarily harsh, and that keeps them from fighting back. 

 

Umbridge as High Inquisitor

The government taking over the schools and determining who can teach and what they can teach is something all fascist states do when they take over. In Nazi Germany teachers had to be “ideologically reliable,” and spies were placed in the schools to make sure that the teachers held true. Making sure teachers are “ideologically reliable” is exactly what Umbridge is doing when she is made Hogwarts High Inquisitor. She is there to provide “on the ground feedback” about what is going on at Hogwarts (spying), and she is to “inspect her fellow educators” (an informant). Before they did this the Ministry put out Educational Decree Number 22 which ensured that the Ministry could elect the headmaster post at Hogwarts if anything happened to Dumbledore. This is clearly an example of what Fudge mentioned at the hearing about changing laws; the Ministry set up a law because they know they will be using it later. They know they will be replacing Dumbledore with their toady Umbridge. 

The Ministry must have already had it in the works that they would be willing to change laws and rules in order to take over and change things at Hogwarts. Umbridge tips her hand that this will happen when she gives her first speech at the school, “progress for progress’s sake must be discouraged,” and “pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited” (OOTP, 213-4). Once fascists are in power, they change the laws to suit their own agenda.

Once Umbridge becomes the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, she institutes many new rules and policies, all of them are fascist in nature. They are as follows:

  • Educational Decree Number 24—student organizations banned. By not allowing people to organize in groups you take away their ability to fight back. People need to band together to form a resistance.
  • Umbridge monitors the mail and all other forms of communication.
  • Educational Decree Number 25—the High Inquisitor has “supreme authority” over students and can even override teachers. Teachers must follow the party line or risk punishment or being fired.
  • Educational Decree Number 26—teachers must only teach Ministry approved information.
  • Educational Decree Number 27—students are not allowed to read The Quibbler. This is The Quibbler article in which Harry spoke out about what happened on that night in the cemetery. The Ministry did not approve of this article, so Umbridge bans students from reading it. Now both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts are controlling the newspaper. The Ministry had been controlling it from the beginning and according to Rita Skeeter, “Fudge is leaning on the Prophet…they won’t print a story that shows Harry in a good light” (OOTP, 567). Hitler and the Nazi party also took control of the media. Everything that was released had to be censored by the party. Everything was propaganda or at least, approved.
  • Educational Decree Number 28—Umbridge becomes Headmistress of Hogwarts.
  • Umbridge forms the Inquisitorial Squad. This is a squad of student “goons” who patrol and punish people who break rules. In Nazi Germany and in other fascist countries the ruling party used squads of young men to patrol the streets to spy on the populace and to terrorize them. These squads, the Brownshirts in Nazi Germany and the Blackshirts in fascist Italy, would show up at people’s houses and beat them up or take them to jail. Everyone was terrified of these young men.
  • Umbridge gives Argus Flich permission to whip Fred and George when they created the swamp in the Great Hall as a diversion for Harry. Of course, they left Hogwarts before that could happen. She uses torture and the threat of torture to frighten the students and to keep them in line.

 

Dumbledore’s Army

The interesting thing about a fascist regime is that the one thing they fear the most is what ends up happening—rebellion. All of the “decrees” and laws, spying, and goon squads are designed to put fear into the general population so that they will not do anything against the government. However, what happens is the repressive atmosphere actually creates rebellion. It happens at Hogwarts when Harry forms Dumbledore’s Army. This never would have happened if Hogwarts had not turned into a police state. The DA only formed because of the Ministry’s fear and the Ministry’s fear created what they feared! As Harry realized, “he and the D.A. were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing that she and the Ministry most feared…” (OOTP, 397).

 

Fascism in The Deathly Hallows

Everything that happened in The Order of the Phoenix was just a warm-up to the fascist state created by Lord Voldemort in The Deathly Hallows. Once Voldemort comes to full power there is very little that can stop him from taking over the government, the school, and the media. 

Voldemort and the Death Eaters first take over the Ministry of Magic when they kill Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic, and put in someone who has been put under the Imperious Curse. This step is a little different than Nazi Germany, because in the real world Hitler became the public leader of the party and did not work in the background. This is actually an intelligent ploy by Voldemort because, if he does not openly declare himself the leader of the government, then no one has any proof that it was a hostile takeover. This secrecy keeps people from openly rebelling. As Lupin told Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Grimmauld Place people “whisper. They daren’t confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust; they are scared to speak out, in case their suspicions are true and their families are targeted…Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear” (DH, 208). Confusion, uncertainty, and fear are the three components necessary for a fascist takeover and a fascist continuation of power.

When Voldemort takes over the wizarding world, Britain goes from being an open society, in which there is freedom of speech and press and all those freedoms that we cherish, to a closed society in which the ruling party dominates everything from the schools to the media to the courts to religion. Once again, as with Hogwarts during the reign of Umbridge, the world becomes a fearful and hateful place. The fear and hate are much more widespread with the reign of Voldemort and affect many more people. Here are some of the steps Voldemort takes in turning the wizarding world into a fascist state:

 

Takes Control of the Government

Voldemort takes over the government, the Ministry of Magic. This is a classic fascist regime course of action. In Nazi Germany, Hitler gained control of the government and then from there he took control over the media, the schools, and the courts. As demonstrated in The Order of the Phoenix with the farce that was Harry’s hearing, the Ministry of Magic is easily corruptible. It isn’t a big step from a government and court system that try to cover up problems (like Voldemort being back) and railroad suspects (like Harry), to one completely dominated by Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

 

Creates an Enemy

One of the earliest and most important steps a fascist regime takes in order to control the population by fear is to create an enemy. In Nazi Germany it was the Jews. In Harry Potter it is the Muggles. Voldemort is clear about his intentions about the Muggles when he says, “…we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of true blood remain…” (DH, 11). The enemy he creates is anyone not of pureblood. He shows his total commitment to that by killing the Muggle Studies teacher.

Long before he came to power Hitler gave speeches and proclaimed that the Jews were the reason why Germany was suffering from economic depression. He proclaimed that the Jews were the cause for most of Germany’s suffering. Hitler also went on to say that Jews were an inferior race and that only certain German “Aryans” were meant to rule. He believed in the Aryans as the “master race.” In Nazi Germany, “the higher master races are called to rule, the inferior to obey, and the progress of humankind will be achieved by the preservation of pure blood” (25, Fascism, italics added). The Nazi’s attempted to eliminate anyone who did not have “pure blood.” Once they gained power they ousted anyone not of the “master race” from the government, the schools, the army, the courts, and from many other places as well. 

In the book The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne is a young Jewish girl who witnesses and writes in her diary about the German occupation of her home in Amsterdam. This is what Anne saw happen in her own town, “Anti-Jewish decrees followed each other in quick succession. Jews must wear a yellow star, Jews must hand in their bicycles, Jews are banned from trams and are forbidden to drive. Jews are only allowed to do their shopping between three and five o’clock and then only in shops which bear the placard ‘Jewish shop.’ Jews must be indoors by eight o’clock and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour. Jews are forbidden to visit the theaters, cinemas, and other places of entertainment. Jews may not take part in public sports. Swimming baths, tennis courts, hockey fields, and other sports grounds are all prohibited to them. Jews may not visit Christians. Jews must go to Jewish schools, and many more restrictions of a similar kind” (page 4). The one thing that Hitler did that is most like Voldemort is that he required the Jews to register. All Jews had to register their Jewish status and most had to wear some kind of identification as well, such as a yellow band on the arm or a Star of David. They might have had to place a placard on their house. 

 

Does all of this sound familiar? It should because it is exactly what Voldemort attempts to accomplish at the Ministry of Magic with his “Magic is Might” program. Voldemort sets up the “Muggle-born Registration Commission” which is designed to weed out witches and wizards who are Muggle-born. In order to do this he also creates a policy stating that Muggle born witches and wizards have stolen magic from proper witches and wizards. What this policy does is to create suspicion about Muggle-born witches and wizards. It also creates a reason to apprehend people and destroy their wands—a reason that may sound acceptable to the general public. When the government speaks about Muggle-born witches and wizards stealing magic, then the populace does not care that offenders are arrested.

If the government talks about it enough and vilifies Muggles enough (like through the school) then people won’t argue about or rebel against the horrible treatment of Muggle-born witches and wizards. When Lupin tells the kids about this Ron says, “People won’t let this happen,” and Lupin tells him, “It is happening” (DH, 209). Muggle-borns have to “register” and hand over their wands if they cannot prove any wizard blood. If you are Muggle-born and do not register, then you get put on a list and hunted by the Snatchers. The Death Eaters use the fear of the Muggle-born registration to harass people. Ron comes across this when he is impersonating a Ministry employee and Yaxley the Death Eater requests Ron do a job for him, “…if my wife were accused of being a Mudblood…and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do that job…If my office is not completely dry within an hour, your wife’s Blood Status will be in even graver doubt than it is now” (DH, 244). The threat is clear. Either do what we tell you to do or you will be punished by having your Blood Status changed.

Another horrible aspect of Voldemort’s take-over, and something the Nazi’s did as well, was their “research.” The Nazi’s performed some horrific research on people they did not like. They did everything from taking the measurements of people’s heads to finding out how they would die if exposed to certain elements. By claiming they were doing “research,” the Nazi’s were able to not only do some cruel things to people, but were able to claim there were hard scientific facts to back up their oppression. Lord Voldemort does the same thing with Muggles. Hermione learns in the Daily Prophet that the “Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called ‘Muggle-borns,’ the better to understand how they came to possess magical secrets. Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries…” (DH, 209). Research and surveys all sound so reasonable and rational. It’s just one way to create an enemy and to make it look like the fascist regime is doing the right thing, even though what they are doing is terrible and wrong.

Voldemort creates an enemy from within and that distracts people and terrorizes people so they do not have the energy or courage to fight back against him. The people just end up putting their heads down and doing whatever it takes to protect themselves and their families.

 

Takes Control of the Media

The media, too, is under the control of the Ministry. Like the courts, the Daily Prophet was already shown to be corruptible and swayed by the Ministry. In The Order of the Phoenix, the paper wrote articles to make Harry look crazy, so no one would believe him when he said that Voldemort was back. This was done at the behest of the Ministry of Magic. The media was further compromised when articles about the competence and reliability of Dumbledore started coming out. This was a clear attack on Dumbledore’s character and a way for the government to malign him. Dumbledore was considered the greatest wizard of his age and Voldemort’s greatest rival. Once he was in power, Voldemort could not have people still believing in Dumbledore, because that would diminish his own power. Voldemort needed to be the most powerful and most feared wizard of all time. He had to show his greatness and to do that he needed to diminish the greatness of Dumbledore. He did that by making it look like Dumbledore was involved in killing his sister and by attempting to convince people that Dumbledore really didn’t care about Muggles. 

 

Gets Rid of Dissidents

Another step that a fascist regime takes that Voldemort also took was to get rid of dissidents (people who disagree with the party line) and political rivals. Harry was the main rival and dissident and Voldemort forced Harry to go underground (which is one of the things that happens to dissidents if they survive). In the ruling parties mind, Harry became “Undesirable Number 1” for killing Albus Dumbledore, not because Lord Voldemort just wanted to get rid him. In a fascist regime the ruling party always comes up with some kind of reasonable excuse for wanting to arrest someone, even if that person is completely innocent. The real reason is that the person does not agree with the party line and is willing to speak up about it. The government has to get rid of people like that. If the person is set up as a criminal and dangerous, then the general public will be glad when he is caught and arrested. Since they have already been primed to be afraid to speak up for fear of what would happen to them, they will not say anything or question why Harry Potter, the “Boy Who Lived,” is now an Undesirable.

 

Creates a Goon Squad

This goes hand in hand with getting rid of dissidents in two ways. One, the goons are responsible for catching undesirables, and two, they frighten the people into complying with whatever the government sets up. Voldemort’s Death Eaters are the foremost goon squad in that they strike terror into anyone dealing with them. People are afraid of the Death Eaters just because they are Death Eaters. Just having a Death Eater talk to you, as Yaxley did with Ron when he impersonated the worker from the Ministry, is enough to frighten a person. When the Death Eaters leave a skull in the air after attacking someone they are instilling fear in people, a fear that inhibits any further rebellion. The Death Eaters were more than just a bunch of thugs though, they were also placed into positions of power within the Ministry and at Hogwarts. But even at the Ministry they create fear in people as is evident when Harry, Ron, and Hermione first infiltrate it and Yaxley approaches them, “The Ministry workers beside them fell silent, their eyes downcast. Harry could feel the fear rippling through them” (DH, 243). 

The Death Eaters are very much like the Nazi Germany Secret Service (SS). Members of the SS were in positions of high power and people were terrified of having to talk to an SS officer or coming up against them in any way. Their brand of terror was systematic, militaristic, and backed with a high degree of power because of intimacy with the leader of the party. For the Death Eaters it was Lord Voldemort and for the SS it was an intimacy with Hitler. 

The Snatchers are another band of goons who travel around terrorizing people. The Snatchers are a step down from Death Eaters. They are not as intelligent or as skilled at magic. However, they are cruel and hungry for the approval of the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort. The Snatchers are responsible for finding Muggle-born witches and wizards and “blood traitors.” They are also drawn to the site whenever a witch or wizard says “Voldemort.” This is also a way to get rid of dissidents, because Lord Voldemort knows that anyone brave enough to say Voldemort will either be a member of the Order of the Phoenix or Harry. 

The Nazi’s in Germany and the fascists in Italy used similar kinds of goon squads to great effect, the Nazi’s Brownshirts, a group of young men who would terrorize the public and the Italian Blackshirts. Both would roam the country spying and informing on people and beating up anyone who was suspected of not toeing the party line. People were terrified of both groups of young goons, just like people are afraid of the Snatchers.

 

Takes Over the Schools

We’ve already seen this in The Order of the Phoenix when the Ministry interfered at Hogwarts, even forcing Dumbledore to leave and supplanting him with a Ministry approved Headmistress in Professor Umbridge. Lord Voldemort gained control of Hogwarts again in The Deathly Hallows. He appointed Professor Snape as the Headmaster, and created posts for Alecto and Amycus Carrrow, two known Death Eaters. As Neville says, “it’s not really like Hogwarts anymore,” because the Carrows teach Dark Arts rather than Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies is now the study of how subhuman Muggles are. Students are tortured and imprisoned under the Carrows’ leadership and anyone who disobeys is severely punished. Neville, Ginny, Luna, and all the members of Dumbledore’s Army are abused and tortured. The Carrows even allow students to torture other students by using the Cruciatus Curse on them when they speak out. All of the students loyal to Harry and Dumbledore eventually have to flee in fear for their lives or the lives of their loved ones. However, school at Hogwarts became compulsory for all witches and wizards under Voldemort’s reign. In this way he could make sure they were being taught exactly what he wanted them to learn.

In Nazi Germany school was compulsory and Nazi’s were the only teachers. The Nazi’s made school compulsory so they could brainwash the children into believing whatever the Nazi party claimed. Controlling the school is not only a way to inculcate young people with the propaganda of the ruling party, but also a way to weed out “undesirables” like Muggle-borns. Students at Hogwarts have to give a Blood Status proving they are of wizard descent before attending Hogwarts. As we saw with Anne Frank, Jews in Nazi Germany were not allowed to attend schools with other Germans. They had to attend their own Jewish schools.

One thing Voldemort did that is very similar to what happened in Nazi Germany was to turn Muggle Studies into a study of how Muggles are inferior to witches and wizards. Alecto Carrow teaches Muggle Studies and in the class she tells them how “Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished” (DH, 574). In Nazi Germany Hitler took over the schools and taught similar things to students about the Jews. The Nazi propaganda taught in schools was called “racial science” and said that only certain people were good and healthy. The Nazi’s taught that the Jews were racially inferior. Anyone not agreeing with this propaganda, whether teacher or student, was punished. Voldemort did this too, and went so far as to kill the Muggle Studies teacher who taught that Muggles, “are not so different” from wizards. Voldemort did not agree with this line of reasoning, and so the teacher was killed.    

 

A New World

Fascist leaders often talk about creating a new world (that they rule, of course), which will be better for everyone. They create in their minds the idea of a perfect world and then do whatever it takes to make it happen, no matter the cost or who it hurts. These leaders see themselves as the good guys. That is what happened in Nazi Germany. Hitler and the Nazi’s wanted to create a world in which they, and people who looked like them, ruled supreme. It did not matter to them that they hurt and killed millions of other people. In their minds, it was all part of creating this new world. 

Lord Voldemort’s regime is the same. He wants to create what he thinks is the perfect world —one in which pure-blood witches and wizards rule and Muggles are cast down into subservient positions, if not killed outright. The statue in the atrium at the Ministry of Magic is a good example of what Voldemort’s new world would look like, “a witch and a wizard sitting on ornately carved thrones” but upon closer inspection the carvings on the thrones “were actually mounds of carved human: hundreds and hundreds of naked bodies, men, women, and children, all with rather stupid, ugly faces, twisted and pressed together to support the weight of the handsomely robed wizards” (DH, 242). After the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort tells everyone who had fought against him that if they lay down their wands they can join him “in the new world we shall build together” (DH, 729). Voldemort clearly believes that this “new world” in which pure-blood witches and wizards reign over “mudbloods” and Muggles is the perfect world. 

With a fascist takeover you have a ruling party that controls every aspect of the lives of the people, from what laws are in effect, to what kind of “blood” is acceptable. You have a population governed and regulated by fear and a ruling party that rules by terrorizing the people. It’s an ugly, horrible type of government and unfortunately one from the real world of the 20th century.

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