Germans have a mature understanding of the difference between war criminals and those decent people who fought without losing their humanity.
We have a similar situation regarding Vietnam. Individuals like McNamara are despised by most Americans, but the grunts drafted into groundpounding are respected
And despite their leaders, I have the highest amount of respect for the Red Army soldiers who fought for their motherland, although some did some terrible things.
After WWII, my Dad befriended two German soldiers who were POWs and held in a camp in upstate NY. When the war ended, they somehow managed to stay in the USA.
They were upstanding guys one was a very skilled carpenter and the other was an electrician at a steel factory. They married local girls had families and participated in the community like any good citizen. They felt very blessed to have found their way to the United States, considering they were in a war, for the other side. I never knew what they did before they were captured. We didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell.