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For us Muggles it is hard not to notice the similarity between Voldemort's rule and the Nazi regime, or between the Death Eaters and the Nazis.

But we know WWII happened in the world of HP, and that the Nazis probably existed in it as well.

Was Voldemort aware that there once was a Muggle with very similar ideas to his, only directed at Jews and some other classes rather than Muggles?

Do we know of anyone in the wizarding world who ever pointed this out? I recall Dumbledore saying something along these lines in one of the introductions to the extra books, but I don't have them near me.

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    Or was anyone else in the wizarding world aware of it, for that matter?
    – SQB
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 7:54
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    Would he have thought he was similar to Hitler? Quite apart from the fact that Hitler was not a wizard, thus automatically inferior to Voldemort's mind. People who believe in their group's superiority and seek to establish a dictatorial regime, and have weird symbols for their followers, are quite lamentably common in the real world, and not at all limited to or necessarily inspired by Hitler. Hitler was not even the first.
    – Adamant
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 8:04
  • I dont think muggle consider that since that is more like an internal affair. Voldemort is currently trying to control England 100% and not yet even start a war with another country. Grindelwald is more likely Hitler version. Since he had many subordinate and already created a great wizard war across Europe and may get to USA like what happen in hp and fantastic beast.
    – someoneuseless
    Commented Jul 16, 2021 at 1:45

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He probably didn't know Hitler existed, for 2 reasons:

  1. During WW2, there was also a wizard war (Dumbledore vs Grindlewald), which automatically reduces the chances of any wizard finding a muggle war happening at that time interesting. Also in those years, Tom was pretty busy in Hogwarts: He opened the chamber of secrets in 1943 (50 years before it was opened in 1993), he was obsessed with finding Horcruxes, and in the same year he asked Slughorn about it and killed his father and grandparents, creating the ring. All these events make it much less likely for anyone from the wizarding world and specifically from Voldemort to care about some distant war happening in Germany.

  2. Another thing that makes it highly unlikely for Voldemort to care or know about Hitler, is because he's a muggle. No explanation needed there.

Those reasons highly reduce the chance Voldemort heard of Hitler or had any interest in him.

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    "some distant war" - the Blitz was a thing. Everyone in the UK should have noticed that there was a war happening. It was a bit quieter in Scotland sure, but e.g. Kings' Cross was right in the middle of it.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 10:51
  • @OrangeDog- I forgot about that. I would imagine the wizards would have noticed the war, but the specific details of the people behind it and their motives wouldn't really matter to them. Except for the "inconveniences" of air raids once in a while (which I am sure the wizards can protect themselves from), I don't think the war would have affected them that much, certainly not to the point where Voldemort now starts taking interest in a muggle killing other muggles. In general, the wizarding world doesn't even know what a gun is! (A metal wand that muggles use to kill each other).
    – MBEllis
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 12:15
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    Wasn't Grindlewald's whole motivation that he'd seen prophecies of the future, including WW2, and thus he believed wizards should take over and dominate the muggles in order to prevent it? So he at least would've been acutely aware of the rise of Hitler, thus showing that the wizarding world is not completely oblivious to the affairs of muggles.
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Commented Jul 15, 2021 at 16:01

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