Specifically, what was the general public perception of them? Were they received and treated as heroes, unwitting pawns, villains, or some mixture of these? Also, how did the soldiers view themselves? I'm more keen to understand if the soldiers were proud of their service or would try to downplay it in light of war crimes and the Holocaust.
I cannot answer all your questions outright, but I can give you indications as to how complex in depth answers have to be.
1.) Time is an important consideration for all your questions. Answers will to some extend depend on whether you ask for experiences and perceptions in 1945 (when Germany laid in ruins), the 1950's (when the last German POWs returned from Russia), the 1960's/70's (when there was, for the first time, an in depth public discourse about the Holocaust) or the 1990's (when the exhibition "War Crimes of the Wehrmacht" toured Germany which led to another extensive public discourse).
2.) Answers will differ dramatically when you differentiate between veterans in the GDR and the FDR. The general view of the Wehrmacht as an institution was, like any other institution in Nazi Germany, generally loaded by communist ideology in the East.
3.) Differences will also appear when you look at the officers corps on the one hand and simple soldiers on the other. Between the military branches you will also find different attitudes.