Erik and Eddie seemed to have nothing in common. The first lives in the Ardennes and the second in Texas (United States). Despite the more than 8,000 kilometers that separate them, they discovered in retirement that they were brothers. They were born under X in France and were adopted by two different families, relates The Parisian.
The revelation took place in 2022 thanks to a DNA test, illegal in France. The MyHeritage site put them in contact. “This is a rather extraordinary, even miraculous story,” Erik wrote in his first message to Eddie. The two men quickly exchanged photos and anecdotes before meeting for the first time in 2022.
Where do they come from?
Eddie was born under X in a maternity ward in Eure-et-Loir. It was adopted by soldiers who worked on the American NATO base. He grew up in the United States. Two years later, their biological mother gave birth to Erik in the Ardennes. It was also abandoned and then adopted. Like his older brother, he married and had two children.
According to them, their mother came from a family of landowners and gave birth very young. Their father, a Polish immigrant, came to work on this farm as an agricultural laborer and thus met him. An impossible relationship, which would explain these abandonments.
A deceased mother and a silent father
Both brothers have since learned that their biological mother had died. Their father, still alive, did not respond to their requests. “I begged him not to turn his back on me a second time,” Eddie says. “We already have parents, we’re not looking for new ones. We are also not interested in money. We would just like to understand our history, know our medical history,” he adds.
At the origin of the collective “Nés sous X d’ici et d’ailleurs”, Erik defends the right to identity and campaigns for the legalization of DNA tests in France. “We want to offer a discreet but not anonymous birth,” he pleaded.
