Munich’s city hall confirms that the marriage was solemnized at
Obermenzing on February , . His private papers contained
proof of a civil ceremony in Stockholm on January ; the mar-
riage certificate, which was looted along with his other papers in
, has now been donated anonymously to the Institute of
Contemporary History in Munich, and shows the date February
, . His comrades of the old Richthofen Squadron formed
the guard of honor.
This second marriage changed Carin’s life. “God!” she en-
thused to a friend. “How wonderful it is to have a husband who
doesn’t take two days to see the point of a joke.” Nils now had
little to laugh about; years later he would still refer to Carin as
his “lost treasure.” Carin did not care.
Aunt Mary [she wrote to her little boy Thomas
that spring of ] will have told you that I am now
married to Captain Göring... You know, the raw
climate in Sweden was none too good for my health... We have known Captain Göring since that time in
Stockholm, you will remember, and he was so kind...
to your mama when she was lonely in a foreign coun-
try.
And then I found that I was beginning to like him
so much that I wanted to marry him. You see, sweet-
heart, he has made your mama very happy. And you
mustn’t be upset about it, and it won’t interfere with
our love for each other, dearest Thomas.
You see, I love you best of all...
Deepening his ties with the private armies in Bavaria, General
von Lossow agreed to Hitler’s request that the SA troops should
be given clandestine army training. “Hitler’s well-known powers
of charm, persuasion, and eloquence,” the general would wanly
admit, “were not without effect on me.”