Hitler... Putin ... Hitler.... blah blah blah. Is that a good summary? The fact is the German people were nihilists, even those who didn’t vote for Hitler. Also I haven’t seen those massive rallies with people raising their right arm in the air.
The German people were people who lost a terrible war and wanted to regain there self-respect. Hitler provided the vehicle and before the Germans realized what was really happening, it was too late.
I’ll let you destroy the obvious analogy that should come to mind if you have been following events going back say 25 years.
People are people. They do what they need to to survive.