Testimony at Demjanjuk trial in Germany suggests escape for guards at Nazi camps was deadly

Ukrainian guards risked being killed by their SS supervisors if they tried to flee Nazi death camps where they served, according to evidence presented Monday at the trial of John Demjanjuk, the retired Ohio autoworker accused of being a death camp guard.

The 90-year-old, Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk has denied ever having served as a guard. However, the historical evidence could bolster his defense's separate argument that any Ukrainians who agreed to serve the Nazis did so to escape deplorable conditions in prisoner of war camps, or possible death, and couldn't flee once they learned they would be guarding death camps....