Son of Boche gets German nationality
A 'lifetime of humiliation' has ended for a war baby as he was awarded dual nationality in honour of his German father
WAR baby Daniel Rouxel has become the first "Son of a Boche" to be given joint French and German nationality – more than six decades after his birth.
The son of a French mother and a German Wehrmacht officer, Mr Rouxel says he suffered a lifetime of humiliation from French people ashamed of the wartime occupation and now feels he has finally gained a legitimate identity.
"I'm German. I'm not a bastard any more. I'm a child like all the others. At last I've got the second half that I was so cruelly missing," the 66-year-old said, blinking back tears after leaving the German consulate in Paris.
Mr Rouxel – who cannot speak German – was born in Paris in 1943 when his mother worked at the German airfield in Brittany where his father, Lieutenant Otto Ammon, was stationed.
His father died during the Liberation and Mr Rouxel was raised by his grandmother in Brittany – but he was a figure of hate, tormented by local youths, often forced by his grandmother to sleep in a henhouse and publicly mocked by local officials.
Mr Rouxel has known his German family since he was 12 years old and says he has excellent relations with them.
It is thought there may be as many as 200,000 people in France in the same situation and the new status comes after Germany agreed earlier this year to grant joint citizenship to those war children who wanted it.
