Robert Nant vs Robert Nant

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Resistance hero awaits death camp son's DNA

Two resistance operatives met, for a night, in a hideout near Lyon in 1944. They made love, and parted. Bob survived the war. Paulette died in a German labour camp. Now, more than 60 years after the one-night stand, a court in Nancy has authorised DNA tests to ascertain whether a man whom Bob has never met but who bears his name is his son.

The story of the two Robert Nants - one a survivor of birth in a camp, the other a Resistance hero - has so enchanted French lawyers and judges that they admit they are dreading the outcome of the tests. 'Whatever happens, I'm going to take care of him,' said Bob, 83. 'All I can do is hope,' said Robert, 61.

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According to Fernex de Mongex, the French authorities discovered in 1968 - through inquiries made in Berlin - that a child had been born at Schkopau labour camp, near Leipzig, on 19 March 1945. The mother died and three weeks later the camp was liberated. It will never be known how Paulette - in a camp where inmates had a life expectancy of three months - managed to secure her child's survival and register his name.

'After the liberation I tried to find out about her. I was told she had died in a camp,' said Bob. 'The period was so chaotic. We were blowing up trains and escaping death squads all the time. But I shall never forget that night. There were two beds in the room. It was strictly forbidden for us to have relations with the opposite sex. It was my first time. I am a man with two daughters. It would be fantastic to have a son.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2031183,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12