History Main / NaziProtagonist

* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' is BasedOnATrueStory of an attempted assassination of Hitler by a group of military officers. The reason for their conspiracy is that [[FascistButInefficient Hitler was a bad leader and his actions would lead them to lose the war]].

** The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E10JudgementNight Judgement Night]]" reveals in its twist ending that the protagonist, Karl Lanser, was a German Uboat captain who torpedoed a civilian ship against the advice of his men. As [[IronicHell Hell's]] punishment, Lanser is forced to live through the moment as an amnesiac passenger, and then be killed himself by his own [[IHatePastMe past self]]. Oddly, amnesiac Lanser is shown to be hurt by the passengers' deaths, perhaps due to the change in perspective showing them as people rather [[AMillionIsAStatistic than targets]].
** The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E74DeathsHeadRevisited Death's Head Revisited]]" centered around a former concentration camp officer at Dachau who revisits the camp to relive his memories of the many atrocities he committed during the war. He eventually receives [[LaserGuidedKarma karmic justice]] from the souls of his victims.

* In ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', the events are told from the point of view of the Germans during the last days of the Third Reich. Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge, SS medical officer Ernst-Gunther Schenk, and Peter, a young German boy inducted into the Hitler Youth to defend Berlin, are the three main protagonists, though Junge was not herself a member of the Nazi Party. The movie shows an interview with the actual Junge (dead by the time of the movie's release) where she says that she found out Sophie Scholl, who was executed for her resistance to the Nazis, was born the same year she was and — in her words — "Having been young is no excuse".

* The ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'', being a direct spoof of ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', naturally uses this trope as well. Not all of them, though; only when the focus is specifically on Hitler and his staff.

* ''Film/TriumphOfTheWill'' stars UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, and many other Nazis in what's sometimes called the greatest [[PropagandaMachine propaganda film]] ever made — the Nazis certainly wanted you to think of that movie when you thought of them and it worked on a lot of people.

Note that this trope is about actual people working under the NSDAP of the Third Reich. A character being a Nazi sympathiser or neo-Nazi does not qualify for this page. Also, remember not AllGermansAreNazis.

* Naturally, many films made in Nazi Germany feature Nazi protagonists, [[ValuesDissonance in probably the only examples where they're portrayed as heroic]] ''[[ValuesDissonance and]]'' [[ValuesDissonance completely loyal to the party]].

*** Finally, [[spoiler: while initially the ''least'' sympathetic of the four, being a brutal SS tyrant, Heydrich proves to be the only Hitler successor with a heart, as after stopping his puppet-master Himmler from causing a nuclear war, he realizes how vile and, more importantly, ''wrong'' his ideology was, and finally kills himself out of shame and despair.]]

Be careful though, not AllGermansAreNazis. Neo-Nazis and Nazi sympathizers from the modern day aren't included.

* PunchClockVillain: A Nazi who does military work fighting the Allies rather than atrocities associated with the Holocaust. He may idolize the Nazi Party, but is not aware of the crimes of the Holocaust. Expect BrokenPedestal to come up once he finds out the truth. This type can easily obtain audience sympathy, especially if he isn't aware of the mass deportations of minorities. However, expect more recent movies that try to pull the "totally unaware" shtick to be criticized by historians as pretty much every German knew ''something'' was happening to the Jews who "disappeared", and the Wehrmacht specifically was directly involved.

* PunchClockVillain: A Nazi who does military work fighting the Allies rather than atrocities associated with the Holocaust. He may idolize the Nazi Party, but is not aware of the crimes of the Holocaust. Expect BrokenPedestal to come up once he finds out the truth. This type can easily obtain audience sympathy, especially if he isn't aware of the mass deportations of minorities. However, expect more recent movies that try to pull the "totally unaware" shtick to be criticized by historians as pretty much every German knew ''something'' was happening to the Jews who "disappeared".

* One of Creator/GarthEnnis' ''comicBook/WarStories'', "Condors" had an idealistic German pilot participating in the Spanish Civil War, and told by a Spaniard in no uncertain terms that this is a test run for a later conflict. Another, "Johann's Tiger", features a tank commander desperately fleeing west in order that his tank crew, whom he regards as innocents, can be captured by Americans and [[FateWorseThanDeath not Russians]]. Then [[RedemptionEqualsDeath he plans on getting himself killed to atone for his crimes.]] [[spoiler:He gets a CruelTwistEnding.]]

* Technically, every Nazi leader in ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron4'' is one, but especially the Nazi leaders in its mod ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', due to the mod's heavy focus on story and it being set in the [[AlternateHistoryNaziVictory Nazi victory timeline]]. Particularly notable are:
** Hans Hüttig, Wolfgang Schenck, Siegfried Müller, Reichskommissars of German-controlled Africa. Hüttig is the VillainProtagonist, an unrepentant genocidal fanatic who seeks to drown Africa in blood and will even turn against his fellow Reichskommissars to do so ([[spoiler: before [[FascistButInefficient inevitably failing because his reign of terror is unsustainable in the long run]]]]). Schenck is the RageWithinTheMachine type, ending up sympathizing with the native Africans which he oppresses and joining forces with them against Hüttig. And Müller is the OpportunisticBastard, who mostly sees his position as an excuse to have fun and go on safaris.