And actually fairly merciful, unless they simply shot him once in the groin or stomach, given how people were treated in those camps.
Growing up, my best friend’s father, who was there from D-Day+2 until VE Day (including with Patton at the Bulge and the liberation of Dachau) said that after Malmady, if they captured an SS-man they gave him three seconds to run before they opened up on him. If a German soldier surrendered with an empty clip, same treatment. (They got sick of Krauts taking potshots at them until they ran out of ammo.)