A. No, they were no longer prisoners. They were properly released, but they signed a document which obliged them to do some work for Germany.
Q. You imprisoned them by a document instead of in a stockade?
A. They were no longer locked up, Sir. The Polish workers—I saw them in the country, for instance—live quite freely.
Q. Could they go where they liked?
A. They could not change their places of work without permission. For instance, if they were allocated to a farmer, they had to stay with that farmer. Only if there were special reasons could they change their place of work. Then they were transferred.
Q. That is what you call freeing them?
A. It was not complete freedom, but it was a better status than previously when they were prisoners of war.
Q. What would happen to one of these free workers if he walked away from his place of employment?
A. Sir, that is what I do not know myself. But may I say something else? A German worker was not allowed to change his place of work either. Freedom for a German was not any bigger than freedom for a Pole, as long as the war lasted.
Q. The German went home to his family every night, did he not?