Sometimes the facade of ordinary looking people disguises how cruel they can be. I deliberately chose not to say evil, as l don't think that people that participate in horrendous acts are necessarily evil, just maybe led astray by circumstances and a breakdown of normal civilisation, with a lack of all it's usual laws, restrictions and moral codes of behavior. Who can say how anyone would behave in certain circumstances, as there are numerous examples of horrendous behaviour in just about any war. I'm also not singling out the women above as more culpable, it's just that their pictures were readily available, and l can't be bothered at the moment searching for photographs of the men that were involved.
The above were all women (known as Aufseherinnen) found guilty of working for the Nazis in the Belsen - Bergen concentration camp during the Second World War, and either imprisoned or hanged afterwards. Ordinary looking, and who, without the rise of the Nazi party and trickle down, gradually increasing hatred of the Jews propaganda, would most likely never have dreamt they would end up doing what they did. That's the scary part - how ordinary people can be made to engage in evil deeds, if the hatred and dehumanisation of a race or religion is allowed and encouraged to take hold.
More photos and details can be found here.
At one of the mass graves - photo by George Rodger (Time / Life)
The Anne and Margot Frank memorial (she died there)
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