When the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, discovered three cousins in former East Germany, it seemed like manna from heaven, tying him by blood to a region where he badly needs votes to win re-election next year.
But the new-found ties looked a little less than heaven-made yesterday when a government official confirmed that one of the three sisters had worked for the secret police.
The government source confirmed a report in the tabloid Bild that Mr Schroder had met his cousin, Renate, privately two weeks ago and learned from her that she had worked as an English translator for East Germany's Stasi.
"He responded by quoting the biblical expression `Let he who is without sin cast the first stone'," the source said.
Mr Schroder warmly embraced the other two long-lost cousins two weeks ago in public and said war and division ultimately could not tear relatives apart. He hugged them before the cameras and declared they had a lot in common.
The Stasi connection of the youngest sister clouds the family joy because many ex-secret police workers who manned one of the most extensive and effective post-war spying networks have become social outcasts in reunified Germany.
Former Stasi employees are banned from many public jobs such as teaching.