The brutality of the German occupation (and their assorted ethnic "legionaires") is so far easily the worst of the 20th century. It was a matter of policy (racial supremacy) and it was carried out as such.
The Russians and the partisans were doing what is normal, they were resisting an invader, for good reason. It's better to die with a gun in your hand than as a slave, which is basically what the powers that be in Germany at the time had in store for them.
I strongly recommend you read Alexander Werths "Russia at War" before you stick your heads onto the chopping block. There is some writings on what the Russian army found when they pushed the German army back from Moscow into the Smolensk, Veliki Luki, Kholm, Orsha, Borodino areas. These are areas that had been under German occupation for some time, 1941, the winter of 1942 or longer. Kharkov, Bryansk and Belgorod to the south was a similar situation.
Here is a part of Mansteins Reichnau order. It is telling.
Quote:
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"The food situation at home makes it essential that the troops should as far as possible be fed off the land and that furthermore the largest possible stocks should be placed at the disposal of the homeland. Particularly in enemy cities a large part of the population will have to go hungry."
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This order, this policy, doomed millions to slow death by malnutrition, disease and exposure to the elements.
What is the excuse for this? I see the reasoning behind it, he had to feed his army. But the key question arises. What was the Army doing there?