September 20, 2026, 12:49 pm | Read time: 10 minutes

Rarely does life write stories so thrilling that they seem to come straight from a crime novelist or writer. The story of Floreana, the southernmost island in the Galápagos Archipelago, is one such tale. It offers everything the entertainment industry usually painstakingly constructs: extravagant protagonists, an exotic island paradise as a setting, erotic entanglements, various mysterious deaths, a manageable number of suspects, and plenty of enigmas. TRAVELBOOK knows the whole convoluted story.

The Protagonists

The First Settlers – Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch

Friedrich Ritter and his lover Dore Strauch were the first on the previously uninhabited island. They arrived in 1929 from Wollbach, Baden, leaving behind spouses who then became a couple. Ritter and Strauch wanted to fulfill their dream of living far from civilization on Floreana. Friedrich Ritter, born in 1886 and a trained doctor, adhered to his own philosophy of nature. He wanted to prove he could live to 140 years without meat on his plate and without clothes on his body. To prevent cavities and the like, they allegedly had all their teeth pulled in Germany and a stainless steel denture made, which they intended to share in emergencies. Ultimately, none of Ritter’s plans succeeded. He did not reach the age of 140, gave up abstaining from meat, and even the love became fragile. But more on that later.

The First Newcomers: The Wittmer Family

Heinz Wittmer, born in 1891, worked in the office of Mayor Konrad Adenauer in Cologne when he became fascinated by newspaper articles about Friedrich Ritter and his dream of dropping out. He eventually decided to move to the island with his wife Margret, 14 years his junior, and his son Harry from his first marriage. In August 1932, they arrived on Floreana and settled in a few caves on a hill–much to the dismay of Friedrich Ritter, who had fled from people. Dore Strauch, who unlike her husband longed for other people, was also disappointed. After all, Margret Wittmer was just an ordinary housewife–a lifestyle Strauch deeply despised.

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The “Baroness” and Her Lovers

A few months after the Wittmers, the Baroness entered the scene. Whether the lady around 40 named Eloise Wagner de Bousquet was actually noble is doubtful. There is also a rumor that she was a dancer in Constantinople and previously a spy in World War I. In any case, she certainly acted like a baroness. In her entourage: her two lovers Rudolf Lorenz and Robert Philippson. With both men, she had previously run a boutique in Paris, and now the three wanted to build a hotel for millionaires on Floreana, a kind of “Miami for Galápagos.” The hotel was to be called “Hacienda Paradiso.”

Historical film footage of Ritter, Strauch, the Baroness, and her lovers is shown in this video on YouTube.

The Tragedy Unfolds

The arrival of the Wittmers already caused frustration among the first settlers, but with the appearance of the Baroness and her lovers, the real drama began. The German author Marcus Straub, who wrote a book about the tragedy of Floreana and extensively studied the events, told TRAVELBOOK about the first disputes with the Baroness: “It all started when the Baroness arrived with a package of letters for Dr. Ritter. And these letters were all opened, photos were missing, presumably a few banknotes as well. The Baroness was immediately accused of opening the letters.”

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Otherwise, the lady was apparently looking for trouble: She confiscated supplies, controlled the mail, occupied the freshwater source, and brandished riding crops and pistols. She is also blamed for the death of Dore Strauch’s beloved donkey. As adored as she was by her lovers, she was equally hated by the other islanders.

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There Was Also Conflict Among Themselves

But even in the ménage-à-trois, things were not right. The Baroness increasingly treated the blond Lorenz like a slave. Additionally, his rival beat him. More and more often, the humiliated man fled to the Wittmers, where he lamented his plight and feared the Baroness and Philippson wanted to kill him.

There were also rivalries among the three women. For example, Mr. Wittmer had gotten into the habit of spending Sundays with Dore Strauch, which Margret did not like at all. And although the doctor never tired of expressing his deep dislike for the Baroness, he is seen in a photo with an arm around her, looking at her almost lovingly.

In general, Ritter had increasingly turned away from his Dore. There was soon no trace of love left. For instance, the family back home in Germany wondered why Ritter only complained about his lover in his letters and had nothing good to say about her. On the island, the other residents increasingly witnessed the doctor mistreating his companion, who suffered from multiple sclerosis.

Three People Disappear, One Is Poisoned

One day in March 1934, the Baroness appeared at Margret Wittmer’s and declared she was leaving Floreana to start anew in the South Seas. Indeed, she and Philippson disappeared the same day–but probably not by sea. No boat was sighted in those days. And when the other islanders visited the Baroness’s property, they found everything unchanged. Even her good luck charm, the book “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” without which she would never embark on a journey, lay next to the filled ashtray on the table.

A few months after the disappearance of the Baroness and Philippson, Rudolf Lorenz also left the island. He wanted to return to Germany and hired the Norwegian Trygve Nuggerud. On a Friday the 13th, they set sail–and also disappeared without a trace. In November, the almost mummified bodies of the men were found on an uninhabited neighboring island. They had apparently died of thirst.

By the time the men were found, the number of island residents had already further decreased. In November, the vegetarian Dr. Ritter died–of meat poisoning. The chicken had been prepared by Dore Strauch, and it finally dawned on the doctor in his last moments that something was amiss. As the poison paralyzed his face and he could no longer speak, he allegedly wrote his last words on a note: “I curse you with my last breath.” After Ritter’s death, Dore Strauch left the island for Germany, where she died a few years later.

How Did the Baroness and Philippson Die?

Suddenly, the Wittmers were alone on the island. And naturally, the question arises: Did they commit the murders of the Baroness and her lover? Was it more likely Lorenz? Or Ritter? Or both together? Author Marcus Straub had a different theory: “I claim to know that it was not a premeditated murder. That there was never a premeditated murder on Floreana, but that it was a combination of accident and self-defense assistance.”

He believes the Baroness’s lovers, who had become rivals, might have quarreled, and when she tried to mediate, she fell and hit her head. Subsequently, another island resident–who is unclear–tried to separate the fighters with a warning shot. Another shot was fired, and Philippson was fatally hit.

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More Deaths Follow

What really happened back then is unknown and will never be known. The fact is that the mysterious deaths attracted worldwide attention. For example, the writer Georges Simenon, who was nearby at the time, wrote several articles about the affair, which were published in “Paris-Soir.” American President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a special trip to Floreana during a South America tour to question the Wittmers. And, of course, numerous newspapers reported on the mysterious story–and in the absence of facts, imagination was also employed. Again and again, there was talk of a curse hanging over Floreana.

There might be something to that: The series of misfortunes did not end with the events of the early 1930s. Harry Wittmer drowned in a boating accident in 1951, at just 33 years old. In 1969, the husband of Ingeborg, Margret’s daughter, disappeared during a hunting trip. His body was never found. And when a group of American tourists hiked into the highlands in the 1960s and one of the women stayed behind, she was never seen again.

Margret Wittmer was ultimately the only one who truly grew old on the island. She lived on Floreana for a total of 68 years, reaching the age of 95 when she died in 2000. And in the end, she was the one to open a hotel–though not for millionaires: the Wittmer Lodge. Today, it is run by her daughter Ingeborg, born in April 1937, who is reluctant to talk about the events of those days: “Read my mother’s book, it’s all in there,” she snapped at an author from the “Welt.”

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The Drama Fascinates the World

And the book by the hotel founder–Margret Wittmer, “Postlagernd Floreana – Erlebnisbericht deutscher Siedler”–is, of course, the best vacation reading for a trip to the Galápagos Islands, which is why the tourism office used it as a promotional tool for a long time. It may be the most successful (it became a bestseller worldwide), but it is not the only book written about the Galápagos affair. Dore Strauch also wrote down her memories before her death. And numerous writers were inspired by the events on Floreana, including the German Marcus Straub.

That this drama could happen at all did not surprise the book author in the least: “Three different parties with such different goals on a barren island where there is hardly any drinking water–that it couldn’t go well was more or less foreseeable. Additionally, internal conflicts developed within the respective parties. Except for the Wittmers, who apparently always stuck together, and that probably ultimately led to them being the only survivors of this drama.”

Drama Was Filmed

Finally, this incredible story made it to the big screen: as a two-hour documentary with prominent participation. Cate Blanchett reads passages from Dore Strauch’s book. Diane Kruger voices Margret Wittmer, and Sebastian Koch quotes from Friedrich Ritter’s letters. In 2014, the film “Galapagos Affair” premiered at the Berlinale.

Right at the beginning, the explanation for the tragedy on Floreana is provided. The Galápagos tortoises were allegedly to blame: According to legend, they curse anyone who comes to the islands with bad intentions.