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Your questions are difficult to answer for me, because they are part of my real life. I am the daughter of a Death Eater (SS officer). I spent my early childhood being cuddled on the laps of racist torturers, murderers and their slave-holding wifes. I've been taught their ideology and the code of blood and honour by some of them and warned against falling for that stupidity by others. I met a couple of those boys like Regulus who joined at 17 for delusions of heroism, most of them were still were still trying to figure out what made them fall for it and do the things they had done.
I cannot accept what you call Mengele!Snape; any kind of this is unforgivable to me, but it's so out of character for the Severus I've seen in the books that I've refuse reading any fanfic with this sort of thing. I've been certainly fed an overdose of the Viking honour thing to respect anyone who did the same thing as Karkaroff for simply saving their own sorry hide, but that's also completely out of character for Severus. In real life I never got along with those who were in denial of what happened or claimed the Muggle version of Imperious curse 'only followed orders'. As a teenager I shared Barty Crouch's attitude about Death Eaters who walked free, not just because I thought they deserved punishment for their crimes, but also because I thought, if they really believed in what they did, they should hold on to their own standards and admit it. I once met with the man who set fire to the synagoge in my birth town with a 12 year old boy inside. I was about 6 and refused to shake his hand, courtsey or speak one word to this man. My family was quite annoyed about my lack of manners. Killing children outside combat sitiuations seems unforgivable, too. The man also got away without imprisonment by denying any involvement, so it's probably the cowardice as much as the crime itself which disgusts me.
I also have a problem with the seemingly unavoidable conclusion that a Death Eater must have done some atrocities. I remember a high SA member, my husband's grandfather, the commander of a slave workers camp who was put to trial and acquitted 3 times, because his former prisoners testified that he never did torture or kill anyone and tried everything to provide for them. I've read the files. He was a firm believer in the Nazi ideology, but killing and torture for him was no part of it. He was one of those who later did their best to prepare the young ones against making the same mistakes he had made.
The only things I cannot forgive are those for which I can honestly say I wouldn't have been tempted to do them in the same situation. I can't imagine Severus doing anything like that; I never could.
I hope I have not offended anyone with this post. I'm not excusing anything, but I had the rare opportunity to hear the lies and the confessions first hand. The maternal side of my family were in the socialist resistance, my grandfather imprisoned by the GESTAPO. I heard their side of the story, too.
I cannot accept what you call Mengele!Snape; any kind of this is unforgivable to me, but it's so out of character for the Severus I've seen in the books that I've refuse reading any fanfic with this sort of thing. I've been certainly fed an overdose of the Viking honour thing to respect anyone who did the same thing as Karkaroff for simply saving their own sorry hide, but that's also completely out of character for Severus. In real life I never got along with those who were in denial of what happened or claimed the Muggle version of Imperious curse 'only followed orders'. As a teenager I shared Barty Crouch's attitude about Death Eaters who walked free, not just because I thought they deserved punishment for their crimes, but also because I thought, if they really believed in what they did, they should hold on to their own standards and admit it. I once met with the man who set fire to the synagoge in my birth town with a 12 year old boy inside. I was about 6 and refused to shake his hand, courtsey or speak one word to this man. My family was quite annoyed about my lack of manners. Killing children outside combat sitiuations seems unforgivable, too. The man also got away without imprisonment by denying any involvement, so it's probably the cowardice as much as the crime itself which disgusts me.
I also have a problem with the seemingly unavoidable conclusion that a Death Eater must have done some atrocities. I remember a high SA member, my husband's grandfather, the commander of a slave workers camp who was put to trial and acquitted 3 times, because his former prisoners testified that he never did torture or kill anyone and tried everything to provide for them. I've read the files. He was a firm believer in the Nazi ideology, but killing and torture for him was no part of it. He was one of those who later did their best to prepare the young ones against making the same mistakes he had made.
The only things I cannot forgive are those for which I can honestly say I wouldn't have been tempted to do them in the same situation. I can't imagine Severus doing anything like that; I never could.
I hope I have not offended anyone with this post. I'm not excusing anything, but I had the rare opportunity to hear the lies and the confessions first hand. The maternal side of my family were in the socialist resistance, my grandfather imprisoned by the GESTAPO. I heard their side of the story, too.