Former guard in Nazi camp testifies in Demjanjuk trial in Germany
By APWednesday, February 24, 2010
Demjanjuk trial: Former Nazi camp guard testifies
MUNICH — A former Soviet soldier taken prisoner during World War II has testified in the trial of John Demjanjuk that he didn’t know he would be used as a concentration camp guard when he agreed to work for the Nazis.
Ukrainian-born Alex Nagorny told the Munich state court Wednesday that when he was recruited from a PoW camp he agreed to serve to stave off hunger.
The 92-year-old says: “I was simply asked if I wanted to work and I was hungry.”
Millions of Soviet prisoners died in German captivity, and the defense argues those who agreed to serve the Nazis had no choice.
Demjanjuk is accused of serving as a guard in Sobibor and is charged as an accessory to the murders of 27,900 people there. He says he was never a camp guard.
