A woman sits in a bathtub, holding a flannel to the back of her neck. The bathroom is almost entirely normal. But there is one shocking addition - a picture of Adolf HitlerA dictator, and the leader of Nazi Germany during World War Two. . She is sitting in Hitler's own private bathtub.

The woman in the picture is Lee Miller, an American photographer. She is now the subject of Lee, a new film starring Kate Winslet as the rebellious photographer. 

This infamous photo of an apparently ordinary bathroom illustrates an important concept: the banalitySomething that is boring or unexciting. of evil.

This phrase was coined by the German-American political philosopher Hannah Arendt in her 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem.

In it, Arendt attends the trial of NaziA German political party of the twentieth century, led by Adolf Hitler. The Nazis controlled Germany from the early 1930s until the end of World War II. official Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the HolocaustThe murder of six million Jewish people in Europe by Nazi Germany. Members of other minority groups were also killed. . She found that Eichmann felt no guilt for his actions. He claimed he had no hatred of Jews.

Instead he believed that he had just been following orders and doing his job. Arendt found him "terrifyingly normal". Many of his fellow Nazis might have been the same. Anyone could do evil in this way.

Not everyone shares this view of the Nazis. Some far-rightA range of ideologies that emphasise social order, racial purity and the elimination of opponents. have come to regard the Nazis as exceptional.

A Sky News investigation found at least 73,524 TikTok posts soundtracked by Nazi hate speech or music associated with the regime.¹  

The bathtub photo and these TikTok videos present two different views of Nazi evil. One shows it as everyday, everywhere and passive. The other suggests that it is purposeful and specific. Evil comes from deliberate thoughts and acts.

Thinkers remain divided on the best way to see and treat evil. If we believe evil acts are premeditatedThought about and planned beforehand. , we risk ignoring the evil that comes from inaction and unintended consequences.

The idea of evil as banal, on the other hand, might be too forgiving. If a war criminalA participant in war crimes - violations of the laws of war which fighters and individuals must follow. claims they were simply following orders, do we let them escape punishment?

Should we treat evil as banal?

Yes: Let's face it - everyone has the potential to do evil. And yet most people appear normal. If we regard evil as horrifying and extreme, we risk letting evil spread undercover. 

No: There is plenty of evidence that there are people driven to perform evil. Arendt's idea of banality is flawed, based on observing one man in one situation.

Or... Evil is a convenient device. We use it to separate the worst human words and deeds from the mainstream of humanity. But actually it is part of an extreme within us.