DR. SERVATIUS: Then the result was that after 9 months the prisoners of war, as well as the other workers, could return home?
SAUCKEL: Yes. This continual exchange necessitated new quotas and new agreements with the French Government, for there always had to be replacements.
DR. SERVATIUS: Were these negotiations carried on under a certain pressure?
SAUCKEL: No. I beg you to hear witnesses on this. They were conducted on a free diplomatic basis.
DR. SERVATIUS: To what extent was this Relève carried through? Was it on a very large or only on a small scale?
SAUCKEL: It was carried out on the basis of 250,000 workers who were to go to Germany.
DR. SERVATIUS: The French Prosecution in their government report said that only weak and sick people were sent back who could not work anyway. What have you to say to that?
SAUCKEL: As far as I know, French soldiers who were prisoners of war were sent back. The sending back and the selection of the soldiers was not my task but that of the general in charge of the Prisoners of War Organization. I consider it possible that sick soldiers were also sent back to their homes in this way if they wished it. But certainly it was not the intention to send back only sick or older soldiers, but soldiers in general. That was the basis of the agreement.
DR. SERVATIUS: There was a second course which was chosen—the improved status which the French called “transformation.” What kind of arrangement was that?
SAUCKEL: The improved status was a third agreement which included the provision that French prisoners of war in Germany were given the same contracts and the same status as all other French civilian workers.