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Marriage of Captain Baron von Richthofen

Die Erinnerungen der Mutter des roten Kampffliegers Kunigunde Freifrau von Richthofen. Im Verlag Ullstein - Berlin, 1937. p. 141??

18 October 1917
Schloß Reinhardtsbrunn
Reinhardsbrunn

‘A few days later, I had another strange and funny experience. On a train journey, some acquaintances suddenly congratulated me on Manfred’s marriage. It had been written in large print in the ‘Schlesische Zeitung’: ‘Marriage of Rittmeister Freiherr von Richthofen! Rittmeister Freiherr von Richthofen, the most successful German fighter pilot, was married yesterday at Reinhardtsbrunn Castle to the daughter of Oberhofjägermeister von Minkwitz. The ceremony was performed by Oberhofprediger Scholz from Gotha. The ceremony was attended by around thirty people, including the Duke of Coburg-Gotha and his wife, State Secretary von Bassewitz and several aviation officers!’ I tried to explain to the well-wishers that Fräulein von Minkwitz had shaken hands with another aviation officer. Manfred had only been the best man at the wedding. But they didn’t believe it and smiled mischievously at our good joke. In the evening, the congratulations poured in. Manfred also received lively congratulations at his hotel in Berlin. When he first protested in astonishment and then laughed, the newspaper report was held under his nose. My husband felt the same way; the poor man was so overwhelmed with congratulations at the front that he was finally convinced that his son had taken a nosedive into marriage behind his back. He was completely flabbergasted when he learnt the true facts. Manfred declared loud and clear that he had no intention of putting on the sacred bonds of marriage in the foreseeable future, that he could very well imagine spending his fresh and cheerful life as a jaunty bachelor. The news of his marriage, however, softened femininity’s interest in his person to a clearly demonstrable degree.’

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