Albania

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 88018

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Caius Marcius"
<coriolan_cmc at h...> wrote:
> 
> Rowling may have selected Albania due to a unique circumstance of
> its oppression, under the rule of Evner Hoxha (one of the 20th 
> Century's many real-life Voldemorts). Beginning in 1967, and 
> contunuing through the collapse of the Communist regime in 1991, 
> Albania's constitution banned the practice of religion in any way 
> shape or form. 

My idea is that Rowling chose Albania for another aspect of Hoxha's
insane dictatorship: he made Albania a closed country, with only the
most limited communication allowed to the outside world, so it was
kind of a 'mystery country'.