It’s unlikely that the Major could have been an officer in the German army without joining the Nazi party. Both Pfirsich and his brother became officers during World War One, before the party and its all-encompassing requirements existed.
There’s a myth going around that the German and Russian peoples “looked away” while their governments took colonialism to Europe and Asia. This is probably because in so many cases, Americans simply ignore abuses by their own government, when they have so little threat against their own lives if they do so. Germans and Russians were up against ferocious governments which would carry out what they threatened, and yet there are many instances in which both peoples found and used the loopholes to do what tiny good they could, when they could. Few Americans have met those levels of humanity and commitment, if their own lives or livelyhoods are actually threatened.
Interesting, because in the Kriegsmarine– at least in the Ubootwaffe– one couldn’t be a member of ANY political party. A man had to drop official membership when he joined. Doenitz refused to allow political officers on submarines from the get-go.
If an officer wanted to publically support the Nazis, he could. He just couldn’t be a member.