John Demjanjuk, left, accused of having been a Nazi death camp guard, is helped by former son-in-law Ed Nishnic as he arrives at the federal building in Cleveland in February 2005. (Mark Duncan/Associated Press)John Demjanjuk, accused of having been a Nazi prison guard, was deported to Germany on Monday evening from the United States to face criminal charges.

Demjanjuk, 89, was flown by private jet to Germany from Cleveland's Burke lakefront airport shortly after 7 p.m. ET. A German Justice Ministry spokesman, Ulrich Staudigl, said the retired autoworker was expected to be in Munich by Tuesday.

Germany has charged Demjanjuk, a native Ukrainian, with more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he served as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943.

Demjanjuk — who was ordered to surrender to U.S. authorities on Friday, one day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene and prevent his deportation — says he was a prisoner of war at the camp, and not a guard.

He and his family argue he has severe health issues and may not survive the flight to Germany. Demjanjuk says he suffers from severe spinal, hip and leg pain, a bone marrow disorder, kidney disease, anemia, kidney stones, arthritis, gout and spinal deterioration.

Taken from home by ambulance

Earlier Monday, an ambulance arrived at Demjanjuk's suburban Cleveland home to transport him to an immigration office. Officials held up a bedsheet to shield Demjanjuk from reporters and television cameras gathered outside the house.

Prior to the ambulance's mid-afternoon arrival, Demjanjuk received several visitors at his home, including his son, daughter and two priests.

Once in Germany, Demjanjuk will be brought before a judge and formally charged. He will also be given the opportunity to make a statement to the court, in keeping with normal justice procedure, Staudigl said.

Demjanjuk is expected to be held in the medical unit of a Munich prison.

Preparations have been made at the facility to ensure he will receive appropriate care, the German government has said.

Cleared of 'Ivan the Terrible' allegations

Immigration officers last tried to deport Demjanjuk on April 14. As he was being carried from his home in a wheelchair, Demjanjuk moaned and flung his head back in apparent pain.

A last-minute appeals court order blocked that deportation attempt.

Justice officials later submitted to the court a video of Demjanjuk filmed on April 6. In the video, Demjanjuk is seen walking unassisted to his doctor's office. His family says he has good and bad days.

The U.S. Justice Department had alleged that Demjanjuk, who received American citizenship in 1958, acted as the notorious Nazi guard Ivan the Terrible at the Treblinka death camp in Poland.

He was extradited to Israel in 1986, and two years later was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He appealed, and Israel's Supreme Court in 1993 ruled that evidence indicated Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible, and it allowed him to return to the U.S.

His U.S. citizenship was restored in 1998 but revoked again in 2002. The Justice Department renewed its case, arguing he had served at Sobibor and other death or forced-labour camps. It no longer alleges he was Ivan the Terrible.

With files from The Associated Press