10 Compelling Arguments That Lord Voldemort Was Based On Adolf Hitler
9. Paternal Shame
After receiving a visit at the orphanage from Albus Dumbledore, who was at the time simply the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, Riddles superstitions that he was somehow special were confirmed. Dumbledore revealed to young Tom that he was indeed a wizard and that providing he put aside his mischievous behaviour he was welcome to attend the school and hone the abilities he was already rapidly developing. After arriving at Hogwarts with a thirst for knowledge and answers, Riddle began to investigate his heritage. Assuming that his father was his magical parent, he searched the Hogwarts trophy rooms and poured over records of past prefects, but could find no evidence that his father had ever attended Hogwarts. Eventually he was forced to admit to himself that his father was not a wizard at all. It was around this time that Riddle fashioned the name Lord Voldemort for himself (Voldemort meaning flight from death in French), so as not to remind him of his filthy muggle father whom he now detested. While Adolf Hitler did not go as far as changing his name, his relationship with his father was ever-strained and often violent. Alois Hitler was a stern man who had no time for sons varying ambitions (he once considered becoming a priest, believe it or not) and is said to have given his son a brutal beating after refusing to give up on one of his dreams of becoming an artist. The alcoholism and domestic violence he witnessed in childhood, as well as his rejection from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, are thought to have pushed Hitler away from his father and his Austrian roots, instead choosing to align himself with Germany.
