I'm copying this from /his/ but just bear along with me for a bit.
In a way, they did. The elite Nazis, the SS, the concentration camp troops, saw themselves as anti-heros, doing unspeakable deeds and damning themselves to Hell for the sake of their country.
The mental toll was excrutiating. That's why there were several coup attempts, assassinations on Hitler, suicides, and why gassing vans were eventually introduced to deal with the Jews because the Einsatsgruppen (death squads) in the East kept going insane and killing themselves after having to massacre civilians with bullets.
Take a look at the lyrics on this SS song.
youtu.be/Mo-wZwn_WU0
SS marches in enemy land
And sings a Devil's song.
A rifleman on Volga's shores
Silently hums along
We care about nothing around us
And the whole world can
Curse or praise us
Just as it pleases
Wherever we are we always go forward!
And the Devil merely laughs
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
We fight for Germany
We fight for Hitler
The Reds will never get rest (x2)
We fought before in several fights
In North, South, East and West
And stand now, prepared to fight
Against the Red plague
SS will not rest, we annihilate
Until no one disturbs Germany's happiness no more
And even if our line thins
There is never retreat for us
Wherever we are we always go forward!
And the Devil merely laughs
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
We fight for Germany
We fight for Hitler
The Reds will never get rest
Now, as for regular Wehrmatch troops and Kriegsmarine, they were more removed from the atrocities so it's plausible that they were acting more out of patriotism than ideological brainwashing.
I'd say Atomwaffen Division are of a somewhat similar mentality. They're the antiheroes. The ones destined to suffer damnation/death on behalf of their race, and knowing that the bright future will not be theirs to enjoy, embrace their impending martyrdom instead.
Attached: Waffen SS with SVT40.jpg (1024x636, 109K)