"Rommel was a brilliant commander and an honorable man."
While he was fighting for Germany and prolonging the war, my people were being murdered by other Germans in gas chambers. That was the price my people paid for his brilliance.
I see. So Rommel is guilty of crimes against humanity simply for being a part of Germany's war machine.
So were my people (I am of German descent). Many of my Grandfather's first cousins died because they had a big problem keeping their mouths shut. More than a few died when the Russians came.
Growing up, I couldn't understand how the country that my great grandfather came from went so nuts. Then I found out that he left before the unification, and left because there was a fear that the new government would not be good. Looks like he and his brother guessed right. But most of Europe was just as nuts. Fascism in general was looked as a very viable form of ideology until after 1939. For one thing, it gave you a lot of scapegoats.
There was a book called "America's Real War" by a rabbi (whose name I have forgotten unfortunately) that talked about that. He grew up in the UK during WWII, and said that what happened in Germany and Russia could have just as easily have happened in the UK or France.
Also, many people didn't want to really admit what was going on. While Germany was winning the war, they preferred to believe that it was to bring about a United States of Europe, and to confront Communism. Looking back at those like Bonhoeffer who saw the evil and tried to stop it, it is apparent that most really didn't want to admit what was going on. It was easier just to pretend to not notice your old neighbor down the road is gone. In some ways, the West as a whole is still doing that. CNN, MSNBC, etc all want to cry foul that Israel is accidentally killing civilians, while ignoring that hezbolah is TARGETING civilians. Because if they admitted what is really going on, they would be forced to do something. And most people would rather pretend evil doesn't exist than confront it.