Anne Frank, The Girl Who Lived: The Story of the Real Life Harry Potter
Harry Potter has become a world renown hero for using magic in order to fight the most
destructive and hateful leader to rise to power in the wizardry world. Destruction of an
incredibly powerful, merciless leader is rarely a task attempted by someone at the mere age of
twelve. There has only been one other adolescent throughout history that has attempted to
destroy such a violent, hate filled leader set on destroying fellow man in order to obtain total
domination. This young hero was Anne Frank, a girl who fought Hitler’s hatred through her
penmanship. Anne’s diary over powered Hitler by reaching many more people and generations
than Hitler will ever be able to reach.
The environments that Harry Potter and Anne Frank lived in seemed to be quite different
on the surface. Anne was a young girl growing up in Amsterdam, Netherlands in the early
1940s. Anne lived with her loving parents. Harry was a young boy growing up in England in
the 1990s. Harry’s parents died when he was a baby and he was sent to live with his emotionally
abusive Aunt and Uncle. Despite these surface level differences, both Anne and Harry faced a
similar environment filled with hate filled violence and killings led by a persuasive and evil
leader.
Adolph Hitler was the leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Hitler’s
goal was to expand Germany’s power and domination over the world as well as purify the
"Aryan race" through the elimination of "sub humans", which included Jews, Gypsies, Asians,
and Blacks. The Jewish people, who were plentiful in the surrounding areas to Hitler became his
main focus. Hitler systematically killed approximately six million Jewish people during the
Holocaust in an attempt to purify the Aryan race of ethnicities and religions differing from white
Protestants.
Voldemort was the leader of a group of dark magic wizards whose goal focused on
purifying the wizardry community of muggles, people lacking magical abilities or not born from
wizard parents. Voldemort and Hitler both sought to purify their worlds by using mass killings of
those different from themselves. Hitler and Voldemort both had a group of faithful followers,
the Nazis and the Death Eaters. The followers had a mark on their left arm that symbolized their
faithfulness to their leader. Hitler’s followers, the Nazis, wore swastika bands around their left
arm and Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters, were branded with the dark mark symbol on
their left arm. In both situations there was one sole organized group who alone tried to stop the
Nazis and the Death Eaters. Before the U.S. joined the effort, the British Empire alone tried to
stop Hitler in his quest to conquer the world and purify the Aryan race. In the Story of Harry
Potter, the Order of the Phoenix was a talented, but small, group of wizards who alone tried to
stop Voldemort in his quest to dominate and purify the Wizardry race.
For many years, Anne and Harry both suffocated in a tension filled atmosphere where
danger was always looming. Anne and Harry were both in eminent danger during those
tumultuous times. Anne and Harry both were sought after in order to be killed. Anne was a
Jewish girl born in Germany and living in the Netherlands. Therefore, Anne, along with many
other Jewish children, was sought after by Hitler and his regime in order to be sent to
concentration camps to be exterminated. Anne was successfully caught and killed under Hitler’s
rule in Nazi, Germany. However, Anne had a Christ-like resurrection when the diary she wrote
while in hiding was recovered and published. Through her diary, Anne’s words are able to reach
millions of people long after her physical death. Anne’s diary has been able to defeat Hitler in
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his goals to rid the world of the Jewish population. Rather Hitler was the catalyst for making
Anne a very famous Jewish author who showed people that they must look beyond stereotypes.
Anne was just an average teenage girl full of strong moral convictions, regardless of the religion
to which she belonged. In an attempt to rid the earth of Anne Frank, Hitler made Anne a worldrenowned diarist who will live on forever through her words and our hearts.
Harry was not part of the mass muggle group whom Voldemort sought to exterminate.
Rather, Voldemort personally sought to kill Harry because Voldemort was aware of a prophecy
involving himself and Harry stating “neither can live while the other survives.” As a baby Harry
did not die when Voldemort attempted to kill him and therefore Harry became known as “the
boy who lived.” Since Harry was the only person ever to survive Voldemort’s killing curse,
Harry became known as the “chosen one”. Harry seems to have been the person chosen for the
task of ending Voldemort. Anne, also, was referred to as the chosen one. The Jewish religion
teaches their followers that they are the chosen people by G-d. In the ending of the final series
Voldemort finally succeeded in killing Harry. However, in a Christ like resurrection, much like
Anne experienced, Harry came back to life and succeeded in killing Voldemort. Harry Potter
escaped death so many times that he almost seemed immortal like Anne Frank. Also, because of
the world-wide popularity of the series, Harry Potter has become an immortal figure that will be
passed on through many generations reading the novel. Anne and Harry have found immortality
through literature as world heroes. Ironically Hitler and Voldemort would have given their lives
for such immortality. Anne and Harry both teach the lessons to adolescents and adults alike
about the destruction that stereotypes and hatred can cause and the need for all individuals to
stand up for what is right in order to stop the evils in the world. Anne and Harry both
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exemplified that human goodness will always over power human evil, even in an unexpected
way, such as a recovered diary or a magical wand.
Anne and Harry were both left with permanent marks on their bodies as a result of Hitler
and Voldemort. Hitler meticulously kept track of all those he sent to concentration camps and
killed through a system of numbered tattoos. The tattoos were commonly branded on the left
arm of every Jewish individual sent to the concentration camps. Anne was given a numbered
tattoo once she was captured by the Nazis. Similarly Voldemort forever branded Harry with a
lightning bolt scar across Harry’s forehead during a failed attempt at killing Harry. Anne and
Harry were forever physically marked by the evil forces that had come into their lives in an
attempt to destroy them.
Hitler had the physical power over Anne to brand her with a tattoo and ultimately kill her.
However, despite Hitler’s physical power over Anne, he was never able to touch Anne’s sense
of morality or spirit. Anne wrote on July 15, 1944: “It’s difficult in times like these: ideals,
dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I
haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them
because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” No matter the
physical and situational power Hitler had over Anne, he could never change her ideals or core
beliefs about human nature. Anne and Hitler were both similar in the fact that they were both
incredibly powerful writers whose ideals managed to reach millions of people via their
authorship of a book. “Anne Frank symbolized the power of a book. Because of the diary she
kept between 1942 and 1944, in the secret upstairs annex of an Amsterdam warehouse where she
and her family hid until the Nazis found them, she became the most memorable figure to emerge
from World War II — besides Hitler, of course, who also proclaimed his life and his beliefs in a
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book. In a way, the Holocaust began with one book and ended with another. Yet it was Anne's
that finally prevailed — a beneficent and complicated work outlasting a simple and evil one”
(Time Magazine).
Voldemort, also, had the physical power to cause Harry the lightning bolt scar and use
Harry’s body as a horcrux in which to store Voldemort's own soul. Voldemort split his soul up
into many pieces to make himself immortal. Interestingly, the lightning bolt scar Harry received
as a result of Voldemort's curse, is also the symbol of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of
Fascists, a prominent group of Nazi sympathizers during the 1930s and 1940s (Hitchens,
Christopher. The Boy Who lived, published August 12, 2007 ). Since Harry’s body became a
case for Voldemort’s soul, Voldemort had some physical power over Harry. For example, Harry
was able to hear Voldemort's thoughts and felt extreme pain in his head while Voldemort’s
power was steadily rising. Voldemort had a certain amount of physical power over Harry since
he was actually embedded within Harry. However, similar to Anne, Harry’s sense of morality
and spirit could never be touched by Voldemort. In the first novel, the sorting hat attempted to
put Harry into the same Slytherin House as Voldemort had lived in as a boy. Harry possessed
some of the same qualities as Voldemort and other Slytherins throughout history. Harry pleaded
with the sorting hat not to place him in the Slytherin House. As a result Harry was placed in a
different house. Harry worried that since his physical abilities made him suitable for the
Slytherin House he was no different than the evil Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Riddle.
"[The Sorting Hat] only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, because I asked
not to go in Slytherin." "Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you very
different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than
our abilities." This shows that Harry’s sense of morality to make the right decision and believe
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in human goodness was what made Harry inherently different than Voldemort, no matter the
physical connection they shared. Anne and Harry’s spirits and moral convictions were
untouchable regardless of whether evil leaders had physical power over them.
Interestingly, Both Hitler and Voldemort ultimately were the cause of their own death
since they both killed themselves. Hitler intentionally killed himself after he realized Germany
had lost the war as the Russians, Americans and British were closing in on Berlin, Germany.
Voldemort unintentionally helped to kill himself by attempting to kill Harry in which a piece of
Voldemort’s soul was stored. Voldemort was unsuccessful in killing Harry but his spell was
successful in killing the piece of his soul that was stored inside Harry. When Voldemort killed
off the remaining piece of his soul he contributed to allowing himself to be vulnerable to death.
Hitler and Voldemort both inadvertently sought their own demise and ultimate death. Hitler
sought to overpower other countries. Eventually, some of these other countries fought back in
order to protect their land. Similarly, Voldemort actively sought out Harry Potter who
eventually killed Voldemort in their final dual.
In both situations a diary was used as a mechanism for survival. Anne Frank used her
diary as a way to work through her feelings as she went through puberty and the harsh realities of
living in hiding during the Holocaust. As a teenage girl Anne immediately appreciated having a
diary in order to express herself as she found her identity in society and as a woman. In June of
1942, Anne wrote her first diary entry upon receiving the diary “I hope I will be able to confide
everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone and I hope you will be a great
source of comfort and support.” Once Anne goes into hiding she soon realized the diary had
become a greater source of comfort than she had ever imagined “So far you (the diary) truly have
been a great source of comfort to me…Oh, I’m so glad I brought you along!” While in hiding
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Anne decided to publish her diary when the war was over so people could see the truth behind
the stereotypes of Jewish people and open their eyes to the horrendous effects the Holocaust had
on the individual good-hearted persons.
Ginny, a young girl in the Harry Potter series also began writing in a diary in which she,
like Anne, anticipated using as a source of comfort through adolescence. However, this
particular diary contained a piece of the evil Voldemort’s soul. Voldemort used this diary to
communicate to Ginny and eventually possess her body. Voldemort used his diary to
communicate his message to the world just as Anne used her diary to communicate her message
to the world. In the end, Harry destroyed the diary and therefore that piece of Voldemort’s soul
that was possessing Ginny. Voldemort’s diary proved to not be a lasting mechanism for getting
his message across. Contrastingly, Anne’s diary proves to be lasting through each successive
generation as a moral compass. The fact that Voldemort’s diary was destroyed while Anne’s
diary seems to be immortal shows a common theme expressed in both the story of Harry Potter
and the Diary of Anne Frank. The theme is that good always wins out over evil. Harry (good)
won out over Voldemort (evil) in the end. Some would argue that good winning over evil is
just a child’s fantasy seen in many fairytales. Harry Potter and all similar fantasy novels are not
reality and merely an ideal that we cling onto. Some might even cite Anne Frank as the opposite
to this fantasy of good winning out over evil. However, Anne Frank never let Hitler win. Anne
kept her ideals about morality and the nature of human goodness regardless of Hitler’s monstrous
actions. Anne kept her ideals and spirit alive in her diary that has lived on through the
generations, long after Hitler and his ideals died. Neo-Nazis who still revere Hitler and his
message are small in size in comparison to the millions of people around the world who revere
and honor Anne Frank.
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The parallels between Anne Frank and Harry under the rule of Hitler and Voldemort are
numerous. Harry Potter is a fictionalized Anne Frank that uses an invisibility cloak and a magical
wand in order to fight the evil bigotry and hate, just as Anne did with a diary and a pen a half of
decade earlier. When questioned about the connection between the Holocaust and the Harry
Potter series, JK Rowling responded “I think if most of us were asked to name a very evil
regime we would think Nazi Germany. There were parallels in the ideology. I wanted Harry to
leave our world and find exactly the same problems in the wizarding world. So you have the
intent to impose a hierarchy, you have bigotry, and this notion of purity, which is this great
fallacy, but it crops up all over the world. People like to think themselves superior and that if
they can pride themselves in nothing else they can pride themselves on perceived purity. So yeah
that follows a parallel” (http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegiehall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more).
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