Won almost at a greater cost than his famous war decoration,
though not a prize that he was so anxious to display, this vital
certificate of sanity would be among his most precious posses-
sions for the next twenty years.
His return to Carin’s little apartment triggered fresh trou-
bles. Since his crazed outbursts were now a thing of the past,
Thomas often came over from school at Östermalm. Nils warned
Carin that the lad was playing truant, and his schoolwork was
suffering. Overreacting, she sued Nils for legal custody. His de-
fense lawyers hired a private detective, and he dug up evidence
of Göring’s drug addiction. On April , , Dr. Karl Lund-
berg, a court-appointed doctor, certified that neither Hermann
nor Carin who was, he said, an epileptic was fit to provide a
home for Thomas, and on the twenty-second the court dis-
missed her petition.
Planning to appeal, she persuaded Hermann to return to
Långbro and complete the withdrawal cure. He gloomily reen-
tered the asylum on May . The hospital’s dossier on him states
only, “Subdued, fluctuating moods, egocentric, easily affected,
back pain.” Afterward, Dr. C. Franke, the assistant medical su-
perintendent, issued this new certificate:
Captain Hermann Göhring [sic] of No. Ödengatan,
Stockholm, was admitted to Långbro Hospital in May
at his own request and treated there by the un-
dersigned. During his stay there he underwent a de-
toxification cure from the use of Eukodal, and when
he left the hospital at the beginning of June, he was
completely cured from the use of the above and free
from the use of all types of opium derivatives, which
fact is herewith certified on my honor and conscience.On August , he wrote a pathetic letter to the court stressing
his former status and acts of wartime heroism, and declaring his