Rommel's professionalism on the battlefield won him the respect of the Allies early in the war. He routinely disregarded orders to execute prisoners and tried to limit civilian casualties as much as possible. His Afrika Korps also did not include any of the notorious Waffen-SS units.

Winston Churchill wrote about him after the war:

"His ardor, and daring, inflicted grievous disasters upon us. But he deserves the salute which I made him, in the House of Commons, in January 1942. He also deserves our respect, because although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this he paid the forfeit of his life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little place for chivalry"

Rommel's distaste for the Nazis was no secret, however it seems to have been tolerated due to his skill and popularity. In 1941 he was infuriated when a false biography published in the propaganda newspaper Das Reich portrayed him as a Nazi, and demanded a reprint.

Personally, I think that Rommel would have been more likely to testify against the Nazis at Nuremberg than be tried as one of them.