From what i know about Himmler himself, who's basically the prototypical neurotic-esoteric SS :le-pol-face: , there was both a lionization of becoming desensitized to violence and a downplaying of how emotionally stunted that makes people. Like, he took a lot of inspiration from zen bhuddism of all things, of mental techniques the zen monks developed to blank your mind and weather everything the world throws at you, and tried to apply that specifically to become more capable of doing unspeakable things. That's actually where the phrase zen fascist (as in the Dead Kennedys California Über Alles) comes from. At the same time, he praised the people who carried out his orders for mass murder as "having retained their humanity". I don't know if he actually believed that load of horseshit himself, but there was definitely cope going on to maintain a self-image of "good guys who did what was necessary", as absurd as that sounds. The nazi death cult rested on the assumption of being the hero, not the villain. They seriously didn't get that they were the bad guys, just as today's fascists thing that we're the baddies.