People usually go to the Galapagos to see tortoises. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch went there to escape humanity. It was 1929, and the world was screaming toward a global depression, but this German doctor and his lover wanted a Nietzschean paradise on the tiny, arid island of Floreana. They called it "Friedo." It wasn't a vacation. It was a brutal, toothless existence—literally, since Ritter had all his teeth pulled before leaving Germany to avoid dental issues in the wild. But the peace didn't last. The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden isn't just a catchy documentary title; it’s the historical shorthand for a series of disappearances and deaths that still haven't been solved nearly a century later.
It started with a dream and ended with a corpse on a beach. Honestly, if you've ever thought about quitting your job to live off the grid, Floreana is the ultimate cautionary tale.
Why the Wittmers Ruined Everything for Ritter
Friedrich Ritter was a bit of a jerk. He wanted to be the only person on the island so he could write his philosophical manifestos in peace while Dore did most of the heavy lifting. Then the Wittmers showed up. Heinz and Margaret Wittmer arrived in 1932, and they weren't "seekers" or philosophers. They were practical Germans. Margaret was pregnant. They brought tools, seeds, and a desire for a fresh start for their sickly son, Harry.
Ritter hated them. He felt his "Eden" was being invaded by the very bourgeois society he tried to flee. But the Wittmers were survivors. They built a real house. They found water. They didn't just survive; they thrived in a way that made Ritter’s asceticism look like a weird, self-inflicted punishment. You’ve got to wonder if the tension started right there, in the dirt, over who owned the few freshwater springs on a volcanic rock.
Enter the "Baroness" and the Chaos
If the Wittmers were a complication, the Baroness was an explosion. Eloise von Wagner-Bosquet arrived shortly after the Wittmers, trailing two young lovers (Robert Philippson and Rudolf Lorenz) and a grand plan to build a luxury hotel for wealthy yachtsmen. She called it "Hacienda Paradiso." She wore a silk dress and carried a pearl-handled pistol. She claimed to be an Austrian noble, though that was likely a total fabrication.
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She was the catalyst for the tragedy.
The Baroness took over the island. She intercepted mail. She stole supplies. She supposedly "ruled" Floreana with her whip and her charm. The island became a powder keg. On one side, you had the grumpy philosopher Ritter. In the middle, the hardworking, quiet Wittmers. On the other, a self-proclaimed Queen with two boyfriends who were increasingly at each other's throats.
It was a mess.
The Disappearances: What Really Happened?
In March 1934, the Baroness and Robert Philippson vanished. Margaret Wittmer claimed they had boarded a passing yacht headed for Tahiti. But here’s the thing: no such yacht was ever seen by anyone else. No record of them arriving in Tahiti exists. Their belongings—the few things the Baroness prized—were left behind in her shack.
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Then Rudolf Lorenz, the jilted lover who remained, frantically tried to get off the island. He eventually convinced a passing fisherman to take him toward San Cristóbal. He never made it. Months later, his mummified body and the fisherman's corpse were found on the waterless Marchena Island, far to the north. They had died of thirst.
Then came the final blow to the "Eden" experiment. Friedrich Ritter, the vegetarian doctor who prided himself on his health, died of meat poisoning. He supposedly ate a bad chicken. On his deathbed, he allegedly cursed Dore Strauch, the woman who had followed him into the wilderness and endured his abuse for years.
Sorting Fact from Floreana Legend
We have to look at the sources. Most of what we know comes from Margaret Wittmer’s book, Floreana: A Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos, and Dore Strauch’s Satan Came to Eden. They hate each other in print. Strauch paints the Baroness as a demon. Wittmer paints herself as a simple observer, but many researchers think she knew way more than she let on.
Did the Wittmers help Lorenz kill the Baroness and Philippson? It’s the most likely theory. The Baroness was making life impossible. On a small island with no police, "natural selection" takes on a dark, human meaning.
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Why the Mystery Persists
- No Bodies: The Baroness and Philippson were never found. Not a bone.
- The Mummies: Why was Lorenz on Marchena? It’s completely the wrong direction for his intended path.
- The Chicken: Ritter was a doctor. Why would he eat a chicken he knew was rotten? Some suspect Dore poisoned him as a final act of revenge for his cruelty.
The Legacy of the Galapagos Affair
Today, Floreana is a quiet place, but the ghosts of 1934 are everywhere. The Wittmer family still runs a hotel there. They are the winners of the story. They stayed. They survived. They stayed silent.
If you ever visit, you can see the caves where they first lived. You can see the ruins of the "Hacienda Paradiso." But you won't get the truth out of the locals. The "Galapagos Affair" is a family matter for the residents of the island. It’s a story of what happens when you try to strip away civilization and find that the "Satan" you were running from was actually just the person standing next to you.
Lessons from the Galapagos Tragedy
If you’re looking for actionable insights from a bunch of dead Germans on a volcanic rock, here they are:
- Isolation isn't a cure for personality: If you're a difficult person in Berlin, you’ll be a difficult person in paradise.
- Resources dictate peace: Almost every conflict on Floreana started over water or food.
- The "Observer" is often a participant: Margaret Wittmer survived because she was the best at navigating the social politics of the island, even if that meant keeping secrets for a lifetime.
If you want to understand the human psyche under pressure, stop looking at psychological textbooks and look at the map of Floreana. The story of The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden proves that you can leave the world behind, but you can't leave yourself behind.
Next Steps for the Curious
For those who want to dig deeper into the actual evidence, start by cross-referencing the three primary accounts of the era. Read Margaret Wittmer's memoir first to get the "official" family version. Then, read Dore Strauch's account for the emotional, darker perspective of the Ritter camp. Finally, watch the 2013 documentary The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden, which uses actual 16mm footage filmed by the settlers themselves. Seeing the Baroness dance in her silk robes on the volcanic sand makes the eventual tragedy feel much more real—and much more inevitable.