Neigungsehe (1944)

Three years after the end of *The Buchholz Family*, Franz and Emmi Wrenzchen have become parents to twins, Roland and Rolf. When both boys nearly fall out of the window because of Wilhelmine’s carelessness, there is yet another serious argument between old Mrs. Buchholz and her son-in-law. Betti, Wilhelmine’s older daughter, has begun taking singing lessons in order to launch a career as a singer. By a silly coincidence, Wilhelmine discovers that the romance between Betti and Holle, the painter who went to Italy, is by no means over. When the two kiss passionately in public, it causes a minor scandal. Wilhelmine Buchholz, as resolute as ever, gathers up her two daughters and grandchildren and travels with them to Heligoland, hoping that by the time they return to Berlin this “little scandal” will have been forgotten. In the meantime, her nemesis Kathinka Bergfeldt cannot resist spelling out in a letter to her friend and foe every last detail of the rumor that Franz Wrenzchen is supposedly having an affair with another woman. Wilhelmine is furious. She returns to Berlin at once and confronts her supposedly unfaithful son-in-law like a fury. But he convincingly assures her that it is nothing more than a nasty rumor. Meanwhile, Friedrich Wilhelm Holle has followed his Betti to Heligoland, where the two marry in secret—a marriage for love. On the tiny island, no elaborate preparations are needed; for example, there is no need to publish the banns. Back home in Berlin, newly married Betti lacks the courage to tell her parents that she has married. Unaware of what has happened, Wilhelmine, as pragmatic and energetic as ever, now wants at last to get her eldest daughter married, so she places a matrimonial advertisement for Betti. Wilhelmine Buchholz is kept fully occupied checking out the prospective husbands. When she learns that Betti and her Friedrich Wilhelm are already married, she is initially horrified. But then she also recognizes the advantages of the match: the painter Holle is willing to contribute illustrations to Wilhelmine’s book.