Many supported the Axis until Stalin sent provocateurs behind the lines to kill German troops - and the resulting reprisals drove them back to Stalin. After the wall came down in 1989, Gorbachev admitted this.
“..Many supported the Axis until Stalin sent provocateurs behind the lines...”
I’ve read that too.
Especially in Ukraine, where the SS Einzsatzgruppen came in after the initial Wermacht troops left and started slaughtering village after village.