a retired American factory worker convicted of being a guard at the Nazi Sobibor death camp,has died aged 91 Demjanjuk was convicted in May 2011 of 28,060 counts of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison despite having protested his innocence for three decades and claiming he was a victim of mistaken identity He died a free man in a nursing home in the southern Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach John Demjanjuk Jr said in a telephone interview from Ohio that his father It is not yet known whether he would be brought back to the US for burial Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk had steadfastly denied any involvement in the Nazi Holocaust since the accusations were first levied against him more than 30 years ago "My father fell asleep with the Lord as a victim and survivor of Soviet and German brutality since childhood," Demjanjuk Jr said. "He loved life, family and humanity. History will show Germany used him as a scapegoat to blame helpless Ukrainian PoWs for the deeds of Nazi Germans." His conviction helped set new German legal precedent being the first time someone was convicted solely on the basis of serving as a camp guard with no evidence of being involved in a specific killing Presiding Judge Ralph Alt said the evidence showed Demjanjuk was a piece of the Nazis' "machinery of destruction" "The court is convinced that the defendant … served as a guard at Sobibor" from 27 March said Demjanjuk's story showed an important moral lesson get away from responsibility," Bauer said his family never gave up its battle to have his US citizenship reinstated so that he could live out his final days nearby them in Cleveland One of their main arguments was that the defence had never seen a 1985 FBI document uncovered in early 2011 by Associated Press calling into question the authenticity of a Nazi ID card used against him Demjanjuk maintained that he was a victim of the Nazis himself – first wounded as a Soviet soldier fighting German forces then captured and held as a prisoner of war under brutal conditions "I am again and again an innocent victim of the Germans," he told the panel of Munich state court judges during his 18-month trial in a statement he signed and that was read aloud by his attorney Ulrich Busch He said after the war he was unable to return to his homeland and that taking him away from his family in the US to stand trial in Germany was a "continuation of the injustice" done to him "Germany is responsible for the fact that I have lost for good my whole reason to live His claims of mistaken identity gained credence after he successfully defended himself against accusations initially brought in 1977 by the US justice department that he was "Ivan the Terrible" – a notoriously brutal guard at the Treblinka extermination camp he was extradited to Israel from the US in 1986 to stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity But the Israeli supreme court in 1993 overturned the verdict on appeal saying that evidence showed another Ukrainian man was actually "Ivan the Terrible," and ordered him returned to the US they still believed Demjanjuk had served the Nazis probably at the Trawniki SS training camp and Sobibor saying there was a risk of violating the law prohibiting trying someone twice on the same evidence Demjanjuk returned to his suburban Cleveland home in 1993 and his US citizenship Demjanjuk remained under investigation in the US where a judge revoked his citizenship again in 2002 based on justice department evidence suggesting he concealed his service at Sobibor and the nation's chief immigration judge ruled in 2005 that Demjanjuk could be deported to Germany Prosecutors in Germany filed charges in 2009 saying Demjanjuk's link to Sobibor and Trawniki was clear with evidence showing that after he was captured by the Germans he volunteered to serve with the fanatical SS and trained as a camp guard Though there are no known witnesses who remember Demjanjuk from Sobibor prosecutors referred to an SS identity card that they said features a photo of a young round-faced Demjanjuk and that says he worked at the death camp That and other evidence indicating Demjanjuk had served under the SS convinced the panel of judges in Munich He was ordered tried in Munich because he lived in the area briefly after the war who was removed by US immigration agents from his home in suburban Cleveland and deported in May 2009 questioned the evidence in the German case saying the identity card was possibly a Soviet postwar forgery He reiterated his contention that after he was captured in Crimea in 1942 he was held prisoner until joining the Vlasov army – a force of anti-communist Soviet PoWs and others formed to fight with the Germans against the Soviets in the final months of the war in the village of Dubovi Makharintsi in central Ukraine two years before the country became part of the Soviet Union He grew up during a time when the country was wracked by famines that killed millions and a wave of purges instituted by Stalin to eliminate any possible opposition As a young man Demjanjuk worked as a tractor driver for the area's collective farm After being called up for the Soviet Red Army he was wounded in action but sent back to the front after he had recovered only to be captured during the battle of Kerch Peninsula in May 1942 Demjanjuk was sent to a displaced persons camp and worked briefly as a driver for the US army Demjanjuk later said he lied about his wartime activities to avoid being sent back to Ukraine Just to have admitted being in the Vlasov army would also have been enough to have him barred from emigration to the US or many other countries He was a mechanic at Ford Motor Company's engine plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park and with his wife raised three children – son John Jr and daughters Irene and Lydia autoworker who was convicted of being a guard at the Nazis' Sobibor death camp despite steadfastly maintaining over three decades of legal battles that he had been mistaken for someone else convicted in May of 28,060 counts of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison died a free man in his own room in a nursing home in the southern Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach said in a telephone interview from Ohio that his father apparently died of natural causes Demjanjuk had terminal bone marrow disease and local authorities said the exact cause of death was still being determined It was not yet known whether he would be brought back to the U.S Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk (dehm-YAHN'-yook) had steadfastly denied any involvement in the Nazi Holocaust since the first accusations were levied against him more than 30 years ago "My father fell asleep with the Lord as a victim and survivor of Soviet and German brutality since childhood," Demjanjuk Jr History will show Germany used him as a scapegoat to blame helpless Ukrainian POWs for the deeds of Nazi Germans." Presiding Judge Ralph Alt said the evidence showed Demjanjuk was a piece of the Nazis' "machinery of destruction." "The court is convinced that the defendant .. served as a guard at Sobibor" from March 27 his family never gave up its battle to have his U.S citizenship reinstated so that he could live out his final days nearby them in the Cleveland area One of their main arguments was that the defense had never seen a 1985 FBI document Demjanjuk maintained that he was a victim of the Nazis himself — first wounded as a Soviet soldier fighting German forces "I am again and again an innocent victim of the Germans," he told the panel of Munich state court judges during his 18-month trial and that taking him away from his family in the U.S to stand trial in Germany was a "continuation of the injustice" done to him "Germany is responsible for the fact that I have lost for good my whole reason to live Jewish groups and others welcomed his trial as a legitimate quest for justice But in this case it is important to say that it was right to put him on trial and sentence him," the president of Germany's Central Council of Jews "Justice does not know a statute of limitation gained credence after he successfully defended himself against accusations initially brought in 1977 by the U.S Justice Department that he was "Ivan the Terrible" — a notoriously brutal guard at the Treblinka extermination camp in 1986 to stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity But the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993 overturned the verdict on appeal saying that evidence showed another Ukrainian man was actually "Ivan the Terrible," and ordered him returned to the U.S Demjanjuk returned to his suburban Cleveland home in 1993 and his U.S Demjanjuk remained under investigation in the U.S. where a judge revoked his citizenship again in 2002 based on Justice Department evidence suggesting he concealed his service at Sobibor immigration agents from his home in suburban Cleveland and deported in May 2009 he was held prisoner until joining the Vlasov Army — a force of anti-communist Soviet POWs and others formed to fight with the Germans against the Soviets in the final months of the war Demjanjuk was sent to a displaced persons camp and worked briefly as a driver for the U.S Just to have admitted being in the Vlasov Army would also have been enough to have him barred from emigration to the U.S He was a mechanic at Ford Motor Co.'s engine plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park and with his wife Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article but in 1988 he was found guilty and sentenced to hang the Israeli Supreme Court overruled the decision based on evidence that another man was Ivan the Terrible