Associated Press - November 28, 2009 10:15 AM ET

BERLIN (AP) - Retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk) goes on trial Monday in Germany on charges he served as a Nazi death camp guard during World War II.

The trial breaks new ground in Germany's pursuit of alleged Holocaust perpetrators.

The 89-year-old Demjanjuk will be the lowest-ranking person to go to trial for alleged Nazi crimes. If prosecutors get a conviction, it could significantly lower the bar for who is considered important enough to go to jail for being part of the Nazi apparatus.

The Ukranian-born Demjanjuk is charged with being an accessory to the murders of 27,900 people at the Sobibor death camp. He denies the charge, saying he was a Soviet soldier who was captured by Nazis and held as a prisoner or war.

Demjanjuk was removed by U.S. immigration agents from his home in suburban Cleveland and deported in May.

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