War returnees in Paris, 1941 (b/w photo)

A woman greets her husband, who has returned from German captivity, at the Gare de l'Est station in Paris. The seemingly generous permission to let French prisoners of war return home from the German Reich was granted as part of the "Releve". In exchange, volunteers from France were to be sent to Germany to work until early 1942. Since the number of volunteers demanded by Hitler was not nearly met, the "Service du travail obligatoire" (English: Compulsory Work Service) was created in February 1943, which was supposed to regulate by law who should be sent to the German Reich for forced labor.