Every now and then, someone brings up this story of Demetrius Soupolos and Frank Maus. I myself have mentioned it twice, in 2009 and 2015.
Recently, I saw it again and decided to try to find out what had happened with the court case, since it had been a long time.
I was unable to find anything about the case, and most sources were of poor quality.
I went tracing mentions of this story, and the very earliest I found was from 1982, in, A Week to Remember: Of Pregnant Cows, Slipped Horses, Sterile Bulls, Chickens, Heifers, and the Human Animal, published in Journal of Legal Education.
"The attention of the class should next be turned to the human animal, in what might be called "The Case of Non-Artificial Insemination," a news report of a case arising in Germany.20 The report reads as follows:
It seems that Soupolos and his blond German wife Traute, a former beauty queen,
wanted a child badly. When Traute failed to conceive, her husband consulted a
physician who, after examining him, declared him sterile.
Soupolous suggested to his wife that he hire a neighbor, Frank Maus, who
resembled him, to substitute for him in the marriage bed. Maus was married, the
father of two children.
At first Mrs. Soupolos was outraged by the thought, but when her husband insisted
it would be a purely scientific undertaking, she reluctantly agreed.
Soupolos thereupon called his friend and neighbor, offering him $2,500 for the job.
Maus agreed. Three evenings a week for six months, Frank Maus tried desperately to
impregnate Traute Soupolos. When Hilde Maus, Frank's wife, objected, he explained:
"I don't like this any more than you. I am simply doing it for the money. Try to
understand." After six months, however, Traute Soupolos was still not pregnant. Her
husband thereupon insisted that Maus submit to a medical examination. When the
doctor announced that Frank Maus was also sterile and apparently always had been,
everyone was shocked - everyone but Mrs. Maus, who later confessed that Frank Maus
was not the father of their two children. Demetrius Soupolos wanted his money back.
Frank Maus refused on the grounds that he did not guarantee conception but only an
honest, industrious effort. A German court will decide.
20 - Despite vigorous efforts to identify the source of the story, I have been unable to do so. Many of you are very probably familiar with the case, and if you know the source, I would appreciate hearing from you."
Given that the author himself was unable to find a source for this story, it is almost certainly an urban legend.
