Munich, Germany – John Demjanjuk’s attorney says his client never served as a Nazi death camp guard — but other former POWs who agreed to work for the SS had no choice but to follow orders.
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The 91-year-old retired Ohio autoworker is charged with 28,060 counts of accessory to murder on accusations he agreed to serve as a guard at the Sobibor camp after being captured by the Nazis.
Ulrich Busch told the Munich state court Wednesday his client never served in any camp. But he says the defense has presented more than 30 statements from former prisoners who agreed to serve — proving they faced death if they tried to escape guard duty.
He says that means Demjanjuk should be acquitted even if the court thinks he served as a guard.
This case has dragged on since 1976, when the Israeli police first showed Demjanjuk’s photographs to a number of Treblinka surviviors in Israel. As former Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger once stated “There has to be some finality in these cases”.