Demjanjuk blames Germany for coercing concentration camp workers

Apr 13, 2010, 13:52 GMT

Munich - Alleged concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk blamed Germany on Tuesday for forcing thousands of people to work in Nazi extermination camps, during his first testimony at his trial in a Munich court.

The 90-year-old did not explicitly say whether he was one of those forced camp labourers, but did say that he stood falsely accused, in a statement that was read out to the court.

Germany was to blame for the fact, 'that thousands were forced with violence and death threats to cooperate in perverse mass extermination camps, while hundreds who refused to do so were killed,' Demjanjuk's statement read.

The Ukrainian-born stands accused of having helped to kill 27,900 Jews at Sobibor Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland in 1943.

Defence lawyer Ulrich Busch read out the document, signed by Demjanjuk, in which he said he had been forcibly deported to Germany after 30 years of persecution in Israel, the US and Poland.

'I am thankful to the people who helped me, in a hopeless situation, to survive an ordeal which I experienced as torture,' his statement read.

Demjanjuk said it was the fault of Germany that he lost his home, was taken prisoner of war and put to forced labour. He said it was only with God's help that he had survived.