What did the Junkers and the general old-guard of the old establishment think of the Nazis and of Hitler/the Holocaust? What was the general public opinion of the Junkers, what did the Nazis/Hitler think of the Junkers? What role did the Junkers play in Nazi Germany? Did they continue to hold posts reminiscent of their place as the service nobility? I'm curious about what happened to that people/culture that Bismarck resided in. Thanks!
My source here is a Biography of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck*, he can be seen as a representative of his caste, though (old lower nobility).
These people were very intertwined with the Crown during Imperial times. They formed the elite of the Prussian and later Imperial armed forces. Though more and more non-nobles made their way into the upper ranks towards the end of it. Still, the revolution of 1918/9 and the removal of the monarchy had an immense impact on LV [Lettow-Vorbeck] as well as his fellow nobles. To them, serving the monarch has been their life and they could not identify with the new republican system at all. However they, for the most part, did not become National Socialists. NS wants to a achieve a "Volksgemeinschaft", a "people's community". This means that noble blood would not make you any better than others. The Nazis obviously were not monarchists as well.
However, they still had some similar goals to the conservative nobles:
In conclusion, I would say that the Nazis were considered the lesser evil and preferrable to the republic, even if the nobles were not full-blown National Socialists.
A quote by LV:
Ich bin nicht Nationalsozialist, aber die Notverordnung hat mich entsetzt. Sicher haben die Nazi [sic] und besonders einige ihrer Führer an Größenwahn und Taktlosigkeit einiges auf dem Kerbholz. Trotzdem ist die Bewegung in ihrer Gesamtheit doch ungeheuer wertvoll. Ich sah in Hamburg einen Aufmarsch der Nazi. Es war beste deutsche Jugend, ruhig, sympathisch, in bester Haltung und Disziplin: Preußengeist wie wir ihn doch haben wollten. Wer ein vaterländisches Herz hat, der muss so etwas doch ergreifen [...] Die nationalsozialistische Bewegung, der die große Masse unserer wertvollen Jugend zuströmt, lässt sich nicht unterdrücken. Aber das Vaterland hat meines Erachtens auch gar kein Interesse daran, dies zu tun. Diesen Wildbach sollte man nicht verstopfen, sondern zu fassen und zu regeln versuchen.
My translation
I am not a National Socialist, but this emergency decree [SA and SS were outlawed temporarily in 1932] had me shocked. Of course,the Nazis, especially some of their leaders, possess a large amount of megalomania and tactlessness. However, the movement is, as a sum of its parts, tremendously valuable. I saw a march of the Nazis in Hamburg. That was the best of the German youth. Calm, sympathetic, with the best demeanour and discipline: Prussian spirit just like we want it. Those who have a patriotic heart have to understand this! [...] The National Socialist movement, which attracts much of our valuable youth, will not be suppressed. But the fatherland does not have an interest in doing so, in fact. This torrent should not be chocked, but caught and controlled.
^* ^Michels, ^Eckard: ^Paul ^von ^Lettow-Vorbeck. ^Ein ^preußischer ^Kolonialoffizier. ^Paderborn ^2008.
Here is an interesting article by the grandson of a Junkers landowner and what became of the their home after World War II: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/10/20-years-after-germany-reunified-the-ruins-of-a-soviet-seized-family-home/64000/