Demjanjuk says in first statement in German trial that he himself was one of Hitler’s victims

Demjanjuk casts himself as a victim of Hitler

MUNICH — John Demjanjuk says in his first statement to a German court that he is himself one of Hitler’s victims.

Demjanjuk on Tuesday blamed Germany for starting the war that left him unable to return to his native Ukraine. He says as a Soviet prisoner of the Nazis he was used for slave labor and that millions of his countrymen were killed.

In a written statement read aloud in the Munich state court, the retired Ohio auto worker called the trial against him the “continuation of the injustice” done to him and his people.

The former Soviet soldier, 89, is accused of agreeing to serve the SS as a guard at Sobibor after his capture but denies serving the Nazis. He is standing trial on 27,900 counts of accessory to murder.