Evil at play

This page in the NY Times has a fascinating slideshow of some photos recently donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The pictures show the leisure time of male and female Nazi officers around the same time they were involved in the extermination of Jews. Chilling, smiling happy snaps. They also reveal, to ma at any rate, that even people doing evil things can look nice, happy, friendly and fun-loving. From these I am reminded of two things: that, given the right circumstances, probably any human being can be capable of great wickedness, and that just because someone has a lovely smile is no reason to assume the person is OK.