German man denied U.S. passport over disputed paternity Apr 5, 2006 By VICKI SMITH Associated Press Writer MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- A German man who has fought for a decade to prove his paternity and become a U.S. citizen hit another roadblock this week when the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt refused to grant him a passport. Franz Anthoefer, of Cologne, told The Associated Press of the denial in an e-mail Wednesday morning. Anthoefer claims former Weston mayor and state legislator Louis G. Craig had an affair with his mother, Babette, while working for the Displaced Persons Bureau in Rastatt, Germany, in 1950. Anthoefer, a former cargo pilot and flight instructor, is now a full-time caregiver for his 85-year-old mother, who lives with him in Bonn, Germany. Anthoefer says a German court has recognized Craig as his father, and he is determined to convince others. He began his legal battle in 1996, but his quest dates to 1971. Anthoefer tracked Craig to Weston and traveled there to meet him, only to learn Craig had died weeks earlier. Anthoefer received permission from a West Virginia circuit judge to have Craig's body exhumed in 1996 for DNA tests that were conducted at Brigham Young University and found a 99.93 percent match. Anthoefer was so eager to follow in Craig's footsteps that he ran for mayor of Weston in 1997 under the name Louis Craig Jr., but was deported on the eve of the election for being in the country illegally. In a telephone interview Monday, Anthoefer said he believes that under a 1940 federal law, he must be granted a passport. U.S. officials, however, told him in a letter last year that they want another DNA test because the first was not done by "an acceptable DNA testing facility." An official with the U.S. embassy in Berlin who has been involved in Anthoefer's case did not immediately respond to e-mails from the AP. Anthoefer, however, refuses to seek another exhumation. "It's just an insult to an American veteran," he said. "I don't think American veterans like to be digged up again and again for no reason." Herald-Dipatch