My grandfather (who passed away a year ago) was too young to serve in WWII, but he survived the German occupation as a 14-year-old. His village was smack in the middle of the
Demyansk pocket, so that was certainly no walk in the park.
The initial occupation by the Germans was almost peaceful - they just showed up one day. The whole situation was confusing and caught everyone unprepared - no orders to evacuate were given, the village youth didn't get notice to enlist, and when the Wehrmacht arrived, the place was basically in its peacetime state. The villagers found the German soldiers rude and manner-less, but I never heard any stories of abuse or mass executions, rapes, mistreatement, nothing like that - they were just matter-of-fact and acted like they had a job to do. The locals found it both revolting and hilarious that the Germans didn't bother to cover themselves or seek privacy when doing their, um, bathroom business. Apparently the soldiers found the locals' revolted reactions just as amusing.
Otherwise, the German officers would simply show up at a house and state that they were taking it over, or that the residents were to hand over their food or livestock or tools - no other questions asked, not that anybody dared. A couple of weeks later all fit young men were ordered to move out, ostensibly to a work camp. My grandfather's oldest brother, who was 20, was in this category and was marched off - he was never heard from again. Many more were taken away in subsequent weeks, and the village's population shrunk noticeably, but largely without violence.
Worse things might have come later, but as the Soviet counter-offensive began, the area quickly found itself in heavy fighting and there was no time for that. There was no direct battle for the village, but it was an important depot for the Germans. Over the course of the winter, with the Germans surrounded, things were even worse for the locals. A number of people starved.
Finally, one day the Germans just up and left - no notice, no warning. The Soviet troops were nowhere to be seen and the locals cautiously went out of their hiding places. What they found in the surrounding woods were trenches full of abandoned German equipment. Kids quickly made a game of shooting crows with MG-42s. However, the weapons only occupied them for a short bit because everyone was really, really hungry - quickly, the hunt turned to finding German food tins and German bayonets - after all, machineguns aren't so good for opening cans. Fights broke out between groups of kids and teenagers over said tins, and some had to be dissuaded from shooting each other with their trophy weapons.
After the trenches around the village were scoured, my grandfather and his best friend noticed that an old barn in the village, which the Germans took over early in their invasion, remained untouched. Without telling anyone, they decided to go check it out, in hopes that they could find a bit more food that they wouldn't have to fight over. The barn had a heavy wooden door, which took all my grandfather's 14-year-old strength to pull - but he was lucky to be doing the pulling. The entrance was boobytrapped, but the heavy wooden door absorbed most of the blast - only his feet and ankles were hit by the shrapnel, and he miraculously escaped amputation, spending more than a year recovering in hospital afterwards. His friend, standing right in front of the door as it opened, wasn't so fortunate and was killed instantly.
My grandfather didn't actually like to talk about it much. I mostly learned it from his relatives, including family who still live in that same village near Demyansk.