Secret beeline: French son of WWII German soldier uncovers hidden origins

Soudan showing a photo of himself with his German half-siblings Waltraut and Manfred during their first meeting in July 2019 on Ile d'Oleron island. Photos: Ulrike Koltermann/AFP

The best Christmas present Thierry Soudan ever received was a candle made from beeswax "from my father's hives" – a father the Frenchman never met.

For most of his life the 80-year-old did not know that his father was a German soldier whom his mother fell in love with during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.