What a nasty place.
If SS members did not execute the person, they themselves would be executed. Showing any hint of kindness or compassion to political enemies was suspicious. Some people joined the SS as double agents to help the anti-Nazi parties and see if they could bring down the Party. Some people were conscripted into it later in the war when they ran out of soldiers. Some wished and hoped to die, throwing themselves at the front of every battle possible.
As a civilian, get caught listening to (blocked) Western radio stations? Disappear. Have children who say non-conforming things in school? Get visited by the Party. Find anti-Nazi stuff in the house? Kids taken and given to orphanages, who give them to (paid) Nazi party members.
IMHO the weirdest person in the entire German state was their "programmable soldier." I forget the guy's name but can find it. He didn't think for himself. At first, the plot to assassinate Hitler was immediately assumed to have succeeded. The programmable SS solider was told to go around and arrest all the high-ranking Nazi military officials.
Shortly thereafter, word came around that Hitler survived the bombing, and was still in command. The programmable soldier was ordered to release the Nazi officials, and instead arrest all the plot leaders, which he did.
I don't understand how the guy is programmable in such a way. One has to choose a side, no?