When war was declared in September 1939, they were appalled. They all knew what happened in the previous conflict WW1. Germany starved, its armies were eventually defeated and tens of thousands of their young men came home damaged. Roughly 2,000,000 German soldiers perished in the war - not including the people who suffered due to the war, not including the mother and widows who lost their husbands or sons or both or the pain and suffering of the children and loved ones. 650,000 German soldiers became casualties in the Battle of Somme. That memory was still fresh in their minds. Many of the wounded veterans and their affected relatives were alive at the start of WW1.
Nazi leaders saw the reaction and got nervous. You can do research and find the observations made by people made then, even the Nazi leaders. Germans were horrified they were in another war with France and Britain.
Then the quick victories came in 1939 and 1940 and all seemed good.
But at the start of the conflict, after they had heard Britain and France had declared war on Germany, the mood of the German people was grim. They had good reason to worry. Nothing good could ever come from following loud rabble rousing leaders beating the drum of war.
