We heard a dramatic story when we visited Floreana Island in the Galapagos Islands. The story involved a Baroness, a toothless vegetarian, love and murder. In the 1930's, a man from Germany moved to the island of Floreana. His name was Dr. Friedrich Ritter. Knowing he would be without dental care, he had all his teeth pulled out prior to leaving. He brought his mistress, Dore Strauch. He claimed to be a vegetarian. Later the Wittmer family moved to the same island. The Wittmer family thrived on the island and some of them still live there. I met the great granddaughter of the original Wittmers. Two other women from our group are from Germany and they said her German is very good. For a person who has lived that many generations outside of Germany, it is unusual to speak such clear German. After these two families settled came the Baroness. The Baroness preferred to be called the Baroness. She was from Austria. All kinds of trouble started when she arrived. She came with three lovers - Robert, Rudolph, and Felipe. My first reaction to hearing this part of the story was, "You go girl!" But she brought strife with her. On Floreana Island is a mailbox. Letters are put on a board. Travelers can take letters and deliver them if they happen to live nearby. Travelers can also leave letters to be delivered for them. I didn't get to see this post office myself but I had heard about it. It's like a honor box for candy in a small office or corn on the cob on a truck outside a corn field. The Baroness took her neighbor's mail but never gave it to them. She just kept it. She said outrageous things about her neighbors. She gossiped and self-promoted. Her neighbors would hear terrible things about themselves from other travelers - things the Baroness had told them. She was a scoundrel. Felipe, one of her men, escaped from her. The Baroness and Robert said they were leaving the islands a different Pacific island but they never got on the boat to leave. They were never seen again. They disappeared without a trace. The body of Rudolph was found on Marchena (a northern Galapagos Island). A photo of his shriveled corpse was on display. Later that year, Ritter, the toothless vegetarian, was found dead. Cause of his death? He died of food poisoning from chicken. One member of the Wittmer family wrote a book about their side of this dramatic story. If I can find a copy, I'd like to read it.
4 comments:
I am looking for the book or movie too! cant find anything. I was told the book was called Post Office, but i cant find it on amazon...
The book is called "The Galapagos Affair" and is out of print. Occasionally you can find a copy on amazon. Margaret Wittmer's book is called "Floreana Adventure" but is also found under other titles. Also out of print. I found the former at a Library Book sale, and I lucked upon the latter at amazon. Tragically, there is no movie, but there should be.
The body found on Marchena was Lorenz. The documentary Galapagos Affair is on Netflix and the book about the ordeal is Galapagos Affair by John Treherne. Your local library can do an inter-library loan.
Five years ago I visited Floreana Island with my family and was fascinated by the story of the first Europeans that settled on the island. "The Curse of the Giant Tortoise" by Octavio Latorre, is a great source of information. The German settlers certainly stood out with their unique circumstances. Our delightful Ecuadorian guide/naturalist told us the story in details as we visited the island. I just heard that a film came out in the recent years and I am doing research to find out more about it. The enigmatic baroness and its three lovers still haunt me...
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