Paradise Tossed

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An independent historical podcast exploring the Galápagos Affair through archival documents, first-hand accounts, newspapers, books and more.

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The Mystery

1929

Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch arrive on the island of Floreana with plans to live an isolated, philosophical life.1

1932

The Wittmer family arrives, followed shortly by a mysterious baroness with an entourage and grand plans for a luxury hotel.2 

1934

After years of conflict between all three households, the Wittmers reported the baroness and one of her companions planned to leave Floreana by boat. 3

.

The two were never seen again and the mystery of what happened to them remains unsolved.4

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Overlapping palm tree leaves.

Sources

1 Dore Strauch, Satan Came to Eden: A Survivor’s Account of the “Galapagos Affair,” originally published 1936 (Function, 2014), 14-49.

2 Margret Wittmer, Floreana: A Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos, rev. 2nd U.S. ed. (Function, 2013), 59-62.

3 Margret Wittmer, Floreana: A Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos, rev. 2nd U.S. ed. (Function, 2013) , 120-123.

4 Satan Came to Eden, directed by Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine (2013; New York: First Run Features, 2014), documentary film.

Image Credits

Margret & Ingeborg Floreana Wittmer, Floreana Island by USC Digital Library. Alan Hancock Foundation Collection is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

The Empress of Floreana (Baroness and Philippson), 1934 – print by USC Digital Library. Alan Hancock Foundation Collection is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Aged documents with black and white photographs of a woman holding a baby and a man and woman dressed as pirates.

paradisetossedpod@gmail.com

paradisetossedpod@gmail.com