The Galapagos mystery that just won't die

Have you ever considered leaving everything behind and starting anew on a remote island?

In the early 1930s a motley group of Europeans — made up mostly of Germans — did just that. Their destination? Floreana: a then-uninhabited island in the Galapagos off the coast of Ecuador.

Two couples and a tempestuous threesome traveled there in succession seeking their personal paradise, but they ended up making global headlines for their spats, (s)exploits and, in some cases, strange deaths or disappearances.

Searching for paradise

The first pair of utopia seekers to land on Floreana was German physician Friedrich Ritter and his patient-turned-companion, Dore Strauch, who moved to the island in 1929. To preempt any dental issues, Ritter had had all his teeth removed, replacing them with stainless-steel dentures — which the couple eventually shared.

They were dubbed "Adam and Eve" by the press, who first learned of them through Ritter's letters home and accounts of repeat visitors to the island, which included moneyed American explorers conducting zoological surveys.

Meanwhile, World War I veteran Heinz Wittmer, who had worked in the office of Mayor Konrad Adenauer at Cologne City Hall, was concerned about the health of his teenage son, Harry, and the state of the German economy amid a global depression. Inspired by his German compatriots, he convinced his pregnant new wife, Margret, to move to Floreana in 1932. Margret later gave birth to their son Rolf, said to be the first person born on Floreana.

Then came the trio that upended the already edgy living setup of the others: the imperious Austrian-born Baroness Antonia Wagner von Wehrborn Bosquet and her two German lovers, Rudolf Lorenz and Robert Philippson. She wanted to build a luxury hotel called "Hacienda Paradiso" for passing well-heeled travelers. Besides usurping the island's scant freshwater sources, she intercepted incoming mail and hoarded food deliveries meant for the others; she even declared herself "Empress of Floreana."

Suspicion, accusations, counter-accusations and fights ensued. It was all far from utopian.

Truth stranger than fiction

Unexplained deaths later followed — including that of supposed vegetarian Ritter, who died after eating tainted chicken that Strauch (whom he had physically abused) had fed him.

The baroness and Philippson, who planned to move to Tahiti after their hotel dreams fell through, disappeared without a trace. Lorenz's body was found on another island; it is believed he died of thirst due to the lack fresh water there.

Only the Wittmers persevered.

Today, their descendants run a hotel on Floreana.

In pursuit of happiness

Despite the passage of time, the group's exploits have remained fodder for the press, writers and filmmakers. An episode was dedicated to them on the "Dark Histories" podcast on Spotify in 2022 and in September this year, a book as well as a film by renowned US director Ron Howard will revisit their stories.

"I think that the dream of these exiles was universal and timeless," US author Abbott Kahler told DW. "Who hasn't wanted to abandon their life and try to build a utopia, try to find something better, try to go to great lengths in your pursuit for happiness? To me, it was not an American story, not a European story, but a human story."

Kahler is the author of "Eden Undone — A True Story of Sex, Murder and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II," to be published in late September. The nonfiction work revisits the stories of the group using extensive archive materials including entries in memoirs, diaries and letters that they had written.

A feminist called 'Crazy Panties'

Kahler discovered their stories by accident. She had been researching for a different book when she came across a clipping about "a baroness who had taken over the Galapagos island of Floreana. Her love slaves are in chains. She's a woman known as 'crazy panties.'"

The former crime journalist, who has already authored four New York Times-bestselling works of narrative nonfiction, was intrigued. As she delved deeper into their backstories, she was especially fascinated by the baroness.

"She was a feminist — in the sense that she wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted. She didn't care what anybody thought about her. She didn't have any of those notions about what 'proper' women should be behaving like in that time period. And for that, I admired her greatly," explained Kahler.

Revisiting Eden

Kahler's research also saw her travel from New York to Floreana; it took her two entire days to reach the island. There she met with Wittmer's daughter and granddaughter, and visited the sites where the original exiles lived, retracing some of their treks.

Kahler found it challenging, despite sturdier shoes and modern conveniences. "It just gave me all the more respect for these people trying to do what they did and building a life there because it was very physically and emotionally and mentally grueling and exhausting," she said.

The same story will also soon be hitting the big screen: Ron Howard's "Eden" is set for a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7. The star-studded cast includes Jude Law, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and German actor Daniel Brühl.

Howard's film and Kahler's book add to the surprising yearslong coverage of this murder-mystery set in paradise; simply Google "Galapagos affair" or "Galapagos Krimi" ("thriller") and various films, documentaries and articles from the past decade turn up. 

But what is it about random strangers living too close for comfort that makes for an engrossing story?

Quipping that "hell is other people," Kahler said the settlers had gone to the Galapagos not expecting others to join them. And each person went there bearing their own inner demons that were neither exacerbated nor erased by the others.

"I think that if you really want to be happy on a desert island, you really have to be alone. You can't bring anybody with you at all," she said.

Otherwise, like in the case of the European settlers, it could make for a true story no fiction can trump.

Edited by: Cristina Burack