America's view of WWII Germany: evil, merciless soldiers or victims?

As I said in my earlier post, WWII seems to be a time when people did not try to understand foreigners, and there seemed to be a lot of nationalism, which is interesting because nationalism was at the root of Hitler's arguments. Interesting that both sides had this common root. What does that say about our views of WWII? Maybe we weren't the heroes most Americans think we were. Also, I think Germany deserves some empathy, or at least, most of the population does. After WWI, Germany was punished severely. Poverty was everywhere and hope was scarce. This was the perfect opportunity for a new leader to take over with new ideas that seemed to promise prosperity for the country. It was a way for people to feed their families and fix their economy. No one had any idea what terrible things would ensue. If I was in that situation, I would be tempted to support anyone who could offer hope. Unfortunately, this new leader for the people was Adolf Hitler. Before the German people knew it, children were brain-washed, and everyone lived in fear. I would like to propose that some of the greatest victims of Hitler's tyranny were his own people. Granted, I am not putting down anyone's suffering in WWII (mainly the Jews). Those poor people in concentration camps were more victimized than anyone who was brain-washed in Germany. I am just saying that American citizens should not have labeled Germans as evil. Once more, we need to watch ourselves because we could very well end up in the same state if we do not think critically about everything we are told and explore all of the information out there. I think this is a great idea that relates to digital civilization.