The few “true idealists” among their ranks, the German general continues, “who combined a pronounced anti‐Bolshevik attitude with a fanatical love for their own people” were among the most brutal and violent of all the [Axis’s] legions when it came to dealing with the civilian population in the [Axis]‐occupied regions, precisely because they were generally regarded as traitors by their own people. “They were extremely harsh toward fellow countrymen who failed to share their ideals,” Heygendorff writes. “In dealing with undependable individuals they were so severe that we frequently had to intervene” (emphasis added)—a German euphemism that indicates that the “idealists” were often responsible for mass murders of innocent civilians during the antipartisan campaigns.

(Emphasis added. Source.)