August 22, 2025 • 41 mins
Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter make an unconventional couple, united by their contempt for shoes, root vegetables and, above all, society. In 1929 they leave Germany and begin anew on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana. At first, it feels like a paradise, but soon cracks begin to show. Parasitic fleas, bombastic interlopers, and buried tensions turn their escape into a nightmare. Can they learn to thrive away from civilisation, or will Floreana claim more than their dreams?
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin. In October nineteen thirty two, a newspaper article landed
on doorsteps across the United States.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Modern Crusoe and his wife seek happiness on Lonely Isle.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
The peace told of how a doctor and his wife
had traded life in Germany for a rocky outcrop six
hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador. The pair wanted
to be self sufficient, to live directly off the land,
close to nature, and without the luxury of modern conveniences.
(00:56):
Here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they spent
their days in philosophical contemplation, that is, when they weren't
tending to their foodstock or repairing their weather beaten shack.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
When the Ritters first went to the island, they carried
with them eight hundred pounds of baggage. Afraid of captains
set them ashore with many misgivings.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
The modern Crusoe and his wife were married, but not
to each other. Each had left a spouse behind in Germany.
Dora Strauch and Friedrich Ritter were starting afresh, free of
the fetters of civilization. According to the article, the lovers
(01:40):
planned to remain on their island.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Until death relieved them of their adventure.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to Cautionary Tales Spring
(02:17):
nineteen twenty seven. From her hospital bed in Berlin, Dora
Strouch watched the doctor move from patient to patient. There
was something intriguing about him. He was small and extraordinarily
lithe and she was struck by his steely blue gaze.
(02:38):
His forehead was ridged with furrows. This man was a
deep thinker. Dora recognized a kindred spirit. She was a
deep thinker too, and she had long felt herself to
be set apart different. As a child, she had preferred
the company of animals to people. That sense of her
(03:02):
own singularity only deepened over time.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
A kind of conviction grew in me that there was
some task which I was born to fulfill, although I
had no notion what it could be.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
In search of that essential task, Dora had trained as
a teacher, but she was disappointed this was not her vocation,
and so she turned next to philosophy. Reading. Schopenhauer convinced
Dora that the destruction of life for human nourishment was wrong.
(03:40):
So for a year and a half she subsisted on
a diet of figs alone. Her body grew weaker, but
it was really her soul, she said, that was starving.
She began to crave another project to feed it. By
twenty three, she believed she had found one. She accepted
(04:02):
the marriage proposal of a family friend. He was a schoolmaster,
quiet many years her senior.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I thought it would be our work worth doing to
thaw him out with sunshine.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Dora was positive that with her own bright disposition, she
would lure her husband to a life of youthful cheerfulness.
That confidence was misplaced. Once they were married, the schoolmaster's
sedate solemnity devolved into miserly gloom. Dora was miserable, and
(04:43):
she was also increasingly unwell. Walking became painful and difficult.
She wondered if her body was rebelling against her bleak
home life.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I broke down completely. The next seventeen months I spent
in a hospital where the doctors diagnosed me with multipus clerosis.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
She also underwent, or perhaps was subjected to a hysterectomy.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I do not know whether this really had to be
or not, but I do know that when I learned
that I could never become a mother, something inside me
broke and gave up hope.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Dora was twenty six and grief stricken. She could never
carry a child, her marriage was a failure beyond repair,
and she was facing life with a painful, incurable illness.
It was then, at her lowest ebb that she crossed
(05:48):
paths with doctor Friedrich Ritter. Truth be told. Something about
him unnerved Dora. At first, his face was strangely absent
of any trace of amiability, but she quickly pushed this
daughter aside. The doctor started visiting Dora every day, speaking
(06:12):
of his faith in the power of thought. After examining her,
he told.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Her, you are not ill, but your desire.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
To be ill.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Dora was impressed and exhilarated. Could accu really be a
simple question of mind over matter? Other patients had already
benefited from the doctor's unique outlook on disease, and those
that resisted the will to mend, he left them to
(06:44):
their own devices. Doctor Ritter didn't like sick people, and
he certainly wasn't going to nurse dead weight. As time
went on, the pair developed a friendship. They bonded over
their fervent admiration of nature, in particular his concept of
(07:06):
the ubermensh or superman who transcends society's conventions in favor
of self reliance. They liked the idea of thriving through
discipline and determination, no matter the challenges in their way.
In fact, doctor Ritter shunned much of what society had
(07:27):
to offer. He rejected the evil inventions of modern costume,
in particular the mass produced civilized shoe. He chose to
weir homemade leather slippers instead. He was convinced that a
carnivorous diet was the enemy of the nervous system, and
(07:50):
he was therefore a strict vegetarian. Dora was still in
pain and limped when she walked. The will to mend
proving elusive, but she was nevertheless full of admiration for
the doctor.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Some have thought him an eccentric I know that he
was one of the world's geniuses.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Friedrich, in turn, recognized Dora's potential as an acolyte. Soon
they were in love.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Our happiest hours together were spent in unforgettable and endless talks,
during which I sat at the feet of this man
who looked on me as his disciple.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Like Dora, Friedrich was unhappily married, and the pair dreamt
of running away together. Of fleeing civilization for solitude and
radical independence. Germany seemed to have little to offer them.
Not only did social mares dictate that they remain with
their spouses, but the early nineteen twenties had seen astronomical
(09:04):
inflation as the German mark became all but worthless. Many
people had found their life savings wiped out. Now the
forces of nationalism and fascism were on the rise. The
paramilitary wing of the growing Nazi Party, the thuggish Sturm
Up Thailand, had begun to attack its enemies on the
(09:26):
open streets. Germany seemed poised to descend into darkness. Dora
and Friedrich spent many secretive hours together pouring over maps
in the State Library of Berlin in search of an
island paradise. They agreed it should be tropical.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
In not having to spend our energy in the rough
struggle against inclement weather, we should have the more left
for that higher struggle in which we were engaged.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Eventually they settled on the small Galapagos island of Flora.
They'd read about its diverse flora and fauna and its
fresh water spring in the work of naturalist William Beebe,
and they liked the fact that he had described the
archipelago as the world's end.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We had chosen a place where no one was for
we had learned that it is the contact with unlike
natures that destroys the inner harmony of lives.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They began to prepare for island life, choosing only the
most necessary of their possessions bedding, cooking utensils, carpenter's tools,
Nietzsche's Zarathustra, some Greek and Latin textbooks. Dora packed a
few simple dresses of artificial silk, believing the fabric would
(11:03):
keep her cool in the intense tropical heat. Anticipating dental
problems and committed to a life without the extravagance of
health care services, Friedrich had all of his teeth pulled out.
He was fitted with a set of steel dentures. Part
pragmatism and part experiment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
He had a scientific desire to find out whether gums
might be so far toughened as to become a substitute
for teeth in chewing.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
There was one final problem for the couple to solve
before they left Germany. Their jilted spouses would no doubt
suffer grievously in their absence. It was Dora, who came
up with the solution their partners could simply set up
house together somehow. Perhaps fearing scandal, Dora's husband and Friedrich's
(12:01):
wife agreed to move in together, and in July nineteen
twenty nine, Dora and Friedrich sets for Ecuador. In her
book Eden Undone Abbot, Kayla describes how their ship cruised
through the Bay of Biscay and passed the dramatic cliffs
(12:25):
of the Azores. Eventually they crossed the Panama Canal and
landed on the mangrove fringed coast of Ecuador. Here they
bordered a boat of Floriana. From the deck of their schooner,
Dora and Friedrich watched the island they'd readabout draw closer,
(12:48):
its rugged volcanic mounds rising from the ocean.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
We landed, our hopes as cloudless as the sky against
which the great extinct volcano darkly rose.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Night was already falling, and Dora observed how the red
rays of the sun gilded the ocean, where black shark
fins cut through the surface of the water. A cacophony
of unseen birds and insects mingled with the roar of the.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Surf Friederich and I forgetful of all matters, took each
other by the hand and started to go inland, the
two children of our German fairy tale, setting forth to
find the treasure at the Rainbow's End.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
A German fairy tale, perhaps, so what awaited them was
a story worthy of the brother's grim cautionary tales will return.
(14:05):
In twenty sixteen, the British television network Channel four launched
a reality television experiment. Twenty three men and women were
dispatched to the remote reaches of the Scottish Highlands. They
were to remain there for a year, cut off from
the rest of society, building their own shelter, growing their
(14:27):
own vegetables, and racing their own livestock. The TV show,
which was called Eden, contemplated a simpler time, a world
untainted by civilization. It asked what if we could start again,
how would we create society from scratch. Many of the
(14:50):
participants felt disillusioned with twenty first century life. Among their
number was a doctor, a vet, a chef, a carpenter,
a shepherdess. You get the idea. But after just a
few installments, the show went dark. There were no more
(15:10):
dispatches for a year. Then it returned with a new name,
Eden Paradise Lost. Channel four's commissioning editor Ian Dunkley explained
how the experiment had taken on a life of its own.
I don't think anyone expected it to go as feral
(15:33):
and dark as it did. Faced with the physical hardship
of the experiment, the group had quickly fractured into cleats.
The women described being bullied by their peers for their
perceived physical weakness. They were advised to stick to trivial
tasks like washing, cleaning, and gardening, while the men chopped
(15:58):
wood and handled the hunting and fishing. Bickering about rations spiraled. Rath,
a carpenter from London, described how our hunger had eroded
any shred of group solidarity. I went in wanting to
help everyone and share my skills, but that turned into
(16:19):
if I do this for you, I can get that.
Like many of the women, Ali, a doctor, left the
experiment early. She said, I saw the darkness coming. Dora
and Friedrich gradually explored their island. Pirates and pioneers had
(16:46):
come and gone over the years, leaving their stamp on Floriana.
Some barrels at the main bay, A dilapidated hut, an
improvised bed in a cave, but at present it was uninhabited.
They built a small settlement on a lush acre of
land near the fresh water spring. Friedrich gave their new
(17:09):
home a name.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
This is our place, Dora, and we shall call it Freedom.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It was a portmanteau of their own names, but it
also echoed the German word for peace. Freedom.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
All my heart went out in happiness to our eden
found and to this man whose dream was my dream.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Friedrich salvaged an old pipe and managed to connect the
kitchen of their shack with running water. Dora rescued some
half starved chickens and kept them as her pets. Later,
she took an old donkey in, calling him Burrow. Friedrich disapproved,
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your affection for these wild creatures is no more or
less than a flattering and cherishing of the animal in yourself.
Friedrich remained on a pedestal for Dora, but she also
began to feel a little uneasy in their relationship. As
they worked together on their new home. Friedrich seemed to
(18:20):
disregard her limited mobility. Everything Dora did was to his
eternal dissatisfaction. They survived mostly on eggs, fruit and vegetables. Friedrich,
who said he would not touch any food obtained through violence,
refused potato and beetroot on account of the brutal force
(18:44):
required to wrench them from the earth. Bananas and other
fruit were in plentiful supply on the island, but the
couple struggled to get their crops to flourish.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
That is the odd thing about the Floriana soil. It
can be made to bear rich life, but it's so
shallow that nothing can take firm root in it. Perhaps
there was that an all men for us, but neither
of us knew it.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Then.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In fact, at times the island seemed rather hostile to them.
Cockroaches devoured Dora's artificial silk dresses, and ants attacked their
scant food stores. Friedrich railed against this disrespect of private property.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
As the socialism of the ends is nothing more than
a systematic common robbery of all us a life.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
The vampiric sand fleas borrowed into the souls of Dora's feet,
which erupted into painful, festering sores. Friedrich removed thirty two
of them. The operation was excruciating. Dora and Friedrich had
gone to pains to flee civilization. They had not reckoned
(20:09):
civilization following them. But when passing ships dropped off food
parcels and seeds for things like coffee and cabbages, they
weren't displeased. One wealthy American captain was a regular visitor.
A courier was also specially dispatched by the Ecuadorian post
(20:29):
office to deliver their mail. One day, a few months
into their adventure, they were astonished to receive a parcel
containing forty six letters and a newspaper. These missives were
from total strangers, complimenting the couple's courage and ingenuity. What
(20:50):
was going on? Hands trembling, Dora opened up the newspaper.
She'd been fearful to read of more political turmoil back home,
but what she found on those pages was much more disturbing.
A headline told of Dora and Friedrich's flight from human society.
(21:13):
It covered the breakup of their marriages in lurid detail.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I felt as though the things that Friedrich and I
held most sacred were being dragged mercilessly through the Maya.
I was inconsolable.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
More letters followed. Friedrich and Dora tried to ignore them,
but more often than not, a horrible fascination compelled them
to open up the envelopes. Dora was filled with the
cold horror that some of these tactless intruders might come
(21:51):
and find them. She was right well. Free pleasure seekers,
intrigued by the German couple they'd read about in the
newspapers liked to pass by Floriana on their yachting trips.
Most were just passing through then the Vitmers arrived. Heines
(22:15):
and Margaret had also wanted to leave behind modern city
life in Germany and had been drawn to the Galapagus
Islands by the newspaper stories. They had brought with them
their thirteen year old son, Harry. This seemed to Dora
to be immensely irresponsible. Were still Margaret was five months pregnant.
(22:38):
Having read about Friedrich's medical training, the Vitmers were apparently
expecting him to assist in the delivery.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Friederich was anything but pleased.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
But by and large the new neighbors rubbed along without
too much difficulty. Journalists continued to pitch up on Floriana,
casting Dora and Friedrich as modern crusoes and Adam and
Eve the newspaperman noted that Eve in particular Paradise seemed
(23:12):
a little disappointing. They commented on the couple's rustic abode.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I saw cracks and chinks in the walls through which
I could stick my arm.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And on Friedrich's glittering teeth.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Instead of toothpaste and a brush, he shined them up
once in a while with a ward of steel wool.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Abbot Kayla notes a central irony in her book Eden Undone.
Friedrich and Dora had fled civilization, only to become obsessed
with how civilization perceived them. One journalist, Rob Blomberg, thought
that Friedrich rather liked having his picture taken, although he
(23:54):
claimed he had no desire to make a sensation. In
nineteen thirty two, another tactless intruder arrived, the baroness Antonia
Wagner von Verborn Mosquiere. Dora watched through narrowed eyes as
(24:14):
she rode up to Fredo on a donkey.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
She was platinum blonde, her eyes were hidden behind dark spectacles.
She wore a kind of workman's overalls with sandals on
her bare feet, and the bearer sat jauntily upon her head.
It was all obviously composed for effect, but not without
a certain artificial charm.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
The baroness carried a whip and a revolver, and flanking
her on foot was her adoring retinue, Robert Phillipson, her lover,
and Rudolph Florence, who seemed to be a kind of
unpaid servant who was more than happy to have fawn
on her. The baroness hailed from Austria via Paris, or
(25:03):
so she said. Dora doubted her story.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
If this were a mere baroness, she certainly behaved as
though she were at least a queen.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Dora was convinced that she meant to fight them for
conquest of the island, to subjugate them to her rule.
The imperious baroness did indeed have something up her sleeve.
We'll find out what after this short break. Before long,
(25:43):
the baroness had announced her plans. She was going to
build a luxury hotel on Floriana. Dora and Friedrich were
disgusted that Hacienda Paradiso would, no doubt draer deluge of
American millionaires, turning their island into.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
A sort of Miami.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
This wasn't the utopia that had in mind tall. Elsewhere,
cracks became craters. On one occasion, the Baroness took some
bags of rice that the Vitmars had ordered and held
them for ransom. On another, Dora was convinced that the
Baroness had stolen her donkey. When the elderly Burro was
(26:31):
finally returned home, he seemed dejected. Dora thought his skin
had been rubbed raw by ropes and heavy weights. Overall,
life was getting grimmer. One by one, Dora's teeth began
to rot. Friedrich seized the opportunity to criticize her love
(26:53):
of sugar and performed agonizing extractions on her without dental
equipment or painkillers. After that, they shared the notorious steel dentures.
Whenever they were in company, only the person wearing the
teeth would speak. Friedrich monopolized them for long stints, and
(27:16):
Dora grew ever more silent. The Baroness steamed ahead with
her plans for a luxury hotel. She gathered flamingos for
a Floriana zoo, and she ordered one hundred sheets of
corrugated iron to serve as the hotel walls. Soon, a
(27:38):
penciled sign appeared at the island's main bay. Friends. Two
hours from here lies the Hacienda Paradiso, where the weary
traveler can rejoice in Paradiso. You have only one name, friend.
Yet for all these promises of friendship, it was clear
(28:00):
that there was trouble at the Paradiso. The Baroness's servant,
Rudolph Florenz, became increasingly frail and unhappy.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
His whole manner, expressed a terrible resignation.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Lorenz confided to Dora and Friedrich that the Baroness was
violent towards him and was holding him prisoner. Heinz Vitmer
agreed that the Baroness was a menace. Dora recorded his
raving fury.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
We'll let her get away with everything. What I want
is for us to all get together now and put
an end to this rottenness. We are our own law
here on Floriana.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And then quite suddenly the Baroness disappeared. The Vitmas believed
that she and Robert Phillipson had sailed to Tahiti. Perhaps
they had. Strangely, though, they had left all their belongings behind,
(29:06):
including the Baroness's most prized person ession, her copy of
a portrait of Dorian Gray.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Good riddance to foul rubbish.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Said Lorentz. Then he calmed. He asked Dora if she'd
like to buy any of the Baroness's effects from him.
He too was about to leave the island, and he
needed the money. That year, nineteen thirty four, a punishing
drought blasted Floriana.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
A strange wind rose like a vast fan of invisible fire.
Everything perished under its sweeping breath.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
The earth burned as though a furnace blazed beneath the
rocky ground. Even at night. The leaves withered on the trees,
and the fresh water spring at Fredo dried to a
weak trickle, gathering.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Evil was closing in upon the eye.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Friedrich brooded over his philosophical writings. Dora tended to the
animals and the garden alone. Their relationship broke down even further.
Friedrich started whipping Dora, and she felt her passion for
him and turn to hate. From the Channel four television
(30:38):
series Eden Paradise Lost, things go from bad to worse.
Bullies deride, experts and moonshine fuels fistfights. The group hasn't
caught as many fish as hoped, and boatman Anton is
suspected of sabotage. Soon he becomes the focal point of
(31:00):
everyone's eyre. He goes off to live in a log
cabin he's built for himself in the woods. Later, Anton
is voted out of the community. Before he leaves, he
burns his carefully constructed cabin to the ground. If he
can't have it, no one else will either. Next, members
(31:23):
of an all male clique calling itself the Valley Boys
make fun of cameraman Matt because he dates men, not women.
Their language is obscene, but confronted, they dismiss it all
as mere banter. The Valley Boys embark on an all
meat diet and start slaughtering the communal livestock at an
(31:46):
alarming rate. Veterinarian Rob is horrified. Just before he leaves Eden,
he sees decomposing animal heads hanging from trees around the
Valley Boy's camp. The valley stinks of rotting meat. He says,
it's a muddy, dark, stinking hell. The idea that civilization
(32:19):
has corrupted us can be a tempting one. It's easy
to imagine that without the demands and complications of modern society,
life would be blissful. That if we could just shake
off the rules, a more authentic existence awaits us. But
the story of Floriana suggests that without the machinery of civilization, abuse,
(32:44):
opportunism and brute force can win out. The rules might
seem like shackles, but they can also help keep us safe.
So perhaps it's worth being wary of people who fantasize
about throwing off the rules. Perhaps we should question their motives.
(33:04):
What is it that they want to do once they're
cut off from the rest of society. How might they
treat other people? After all, the isolated setting of Eden
Paradise Lost amplified some of mankind's ugly traits selfishness, homophobia, bigotry, misogyny.
(33:28):
We had the opportunity to show some of humanity's strengths,
Carpenter Wrath reflected, Really, we showed a lot of society's weaknesses.
(33:48):
No one on or off Floriana ever saw or heard
from the baroness and her lover, Robert Phillipson. Again, perhaps
they did start afresh on Tahiti. Perhaps, but it seems unlikely.
When she was so excited about her new hotel, Rudolf
Florenz vanished too that his mummified body was eventually found.
(34:14):
In his haste to get away from Floriana, he had
blundered onto another island, one without any access to fresh water.
He died of thirst. In December nineteen thirty four, an
American captain landed on Floriana. It visited the island several
(34:38):
times before, and he was used to Friedrich coming to
greet him, asking if he had brought anything from the mainland,
But this time Friedrich was nowhere to be seen. Eventually,
he heard a woman shout, and then he saw Dora
stumbling towards him, gripping her cane. She was crying. She
(35:01):
told the captain a terrible tale. The long drought had
ruined Friedrich and Dora's crops, and actantly they decided they
must slaughter one of their pet chickens.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
There was a certain degree of danger in this, we
very well knew, for our chickens had been decimated lately
by a curious sickness.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Friedrich thought they could neutralize whatever poison was in the
bird by cooking it thoroughly. When he was satisfied, they
took the chicken to their dining table.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
We ate one spoonful of it each for the sake
of necessary nourishment, and made the rest of the meal
of our vegetarian fair.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Later, Friedrich began to complain that he felt ill. Dora
wondered if it could be the chicken, although she herself
felt fine.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
It may be something else, but don't worry. I should
be all right.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Friedrich was not all right. Nausea set in, and then
aagonizing pain. It became clear to Dora that a tide
of poison was overwhelming him.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
At last, an icy sweat broke out. It was the
sweat of death. He knew that he was lost, and
I could only look on, ignorant and helpless.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Never one to waste an opportunity for philosophical enlightenment, Friedrich
asked Dora to read to him from Nietzsch's Thus spake Zarathustra.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Mark these lines, Dora, and remembers them always in memory
of me.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Later, when Friedrich was too weak even to speak, Dora
brought him a pencil and paper. He managed to convey that,
in no circumstances should she go to their neighbors, the Victmas,
for help with her difficulty walking, she might not make
it on her own. Dora began to despair. What if
(37:20):
she were left at Fredo alone. Eventually she did go
for help, that there was nothing to be done. Dora, Margaret,
and Heintz watched as Friedrich convulsed and then passed away. Together,
they buried him in his favorite corner of the garden.
(37:45):
The American captain was deeply saddened by the news. He
had been fond of Friedrich. A few days later, he
helped Dora onto a boat bound for Germany. It was
now under the Nazi dictatorship of adult Hitler, but Dora
had nowhere else to go. At Vitma remembered Friedrich's demise
(38:11):
a little differently. She was perplexed by the fact that,
even though Dora and Friedrich had apparently eaten the same meat,
one of them was at death's door and the other
had suffered no ill effects. Nor could she understand why
Dora had waited so long to come to them for help.
(38:32):
She remembered something else too. Whenever Dora drew near Friedrich,
he would try to hit her, kick her, his eyes
filled with hate. Mustering all his effort, he had scrawled
his companion a final message with pencil and paper. Margaret
(38:53):
saw the note.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I curse you with my dying breath.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Heinz Vittmer and his older son carried Friedrich's body to
its final rest place in the garden, and Margaret decorated
the grave with flowers. Dora said Margaret did not attend
the funeral. The key sources for this episode are Dora
(39:32):
Streuch's memoir Satan Came to Eden and Abbott Kaylor's book
Eden Undone, A True Story of Sex, Murder and Utopia
at the Dawn of World War II. For a full
list of sources, see the show notes at Timharford dot com.
(39:54):
The Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford with
Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly. It's produced by
Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original
music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound design
is by Carlos san Juan at Brain Audio. Bend A.
D Afhaffrey edited the scripts. The show features the voice
(40:17):
talents of Genevieve Gaunt, Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough,
Sarah Jupp, the Saimunroe, Jamal Westman, and Rufus Wright. The
show also Wouldn't have been possible without the work of
Jacob Weisberg, Retta Cohene, Sarah Nix, Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody,
Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. Cautionary Tales is
(40:41):
a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at Wardhore Studios
in London, i Noria Barr and Lucy Rowe. If you
like the show, please remember to share, rate and review.
It really makes a difference to us and if you
want to hear the show, add free sign up to
Pushkin Plus on the show page on Apple Podcasts or
at pushkin dot fm, slash plus
Pushkin. In October nineteen thirty two, a newspaper article landed
on doorsteps across the United States.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Modern Crusoe and his wife seek happiness on Lonely Isle.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
The peace told of how a doctor and his wife
had traded life in Germany for a rocky outcrop six
hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador. The pair wanted
to be self sufficient, to live directly off the land,
close to nature, and without the luxury of modern conveniences.
(00:56):
Here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they spent
their days in philosophical contemplation, that is, when they weren't
tending to their foodstock or repairing their weather beaten shack.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
When the Ritters first went to the island, they carried
with them eight hundred pounds of baggage. Afraid of captains
set them ashore with many misgivings.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
The modern Crusoe and his wife were married, but not
to each other. Each had left a spouse behind in Germany.
Dora Strauch and Friedrich Ritter were starting afresh, free of
the fetters of civilization. According to the article, the lovers
(01:40):
planned to remain on their island.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Until death relieved them of their adventure.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to Cautionary Tales Spring
(02:17):
nineteen twenty seven. From her hospital bed in Berlin, Dora
Strouch watched the doctor move from patient to patient. There
was something intriguing about him. He was small and extraordinarily
lithe and she was struck by his steely blue gaze.
(02:38):
His forehead was ridged with furrows. This man was a
deep thinker. Dora recognized a kindred spirit. She was a
deep thinker too, and she had long felt herself to
be set apart different. As a child, she had preferred
the company of animals to people. That sense of her
(03:02):
own singularity only deepened over time.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
A kind of conviction grew in me that there was
some task which I was born to fulfill, although I
had no notion what it could be.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
In search of that essential task, Dora had trained as
a teacher, but she was disappointed this was not her vocation,
and so she turned next to philosophy. Reading. Schopenhauer convinced
Dora that the destruction of life for human nourishment was wrong.
(03:40):
So for a year and a half she subsisted on
a diet of figs alone. Her body grew weaker, but
it was really her soul, she said, that was starving.
She began to crave another project to feed it. By
twenty three, she believed she had found one. She accepted
(04:02):
the marriage proposal of a family friend. He was a schoolmaster,
quiet many years her senior.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I thought it would be our work worth doing to
thaw him out with sunshine.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Dora was positive that with her own bright disposition, she
would lure her husband to a life of youthful cheerfulness.
That confidence was misplaced. Once they were married, the schoolmaster's
sedate solemnity devolved into miserly gloom. Dora was miserable, and
(04:43):
she was also increasingly unwell. Walking became painful and difficult.
She wondered if her body was rebelling against her bleak
home life.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I broke down completely. The next seventeen months I spent
in a hospital where the doctors diagnosed me with multipus clerosis.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
She also underwent, or perhaps was subjected to a hysterectomy.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
I do not know whether this really had to be
or not, but I do know that when I learned
that I could never become a mother, something inside me
broke and gave up hope.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Dora was twenty six and grief stricken. She could never
carry a child, her marriage was a failure beyond repair,
and she was facing life with a painful, incurable illness.
It was then, at her lowest ebb that she crossed
(05:48):
paths with doctor Friedrich Ritter. Truth be told. Something about
him unnerved Dora. At first, his face was strangely absent
of any trace of amiability, but she quickly pushed this
daughter aside. The doctor started visiting Dora every day, speaking
(06:12):
of his faith in the power of thought. After examining her,
he told.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Her, you are not ill, but your desire.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
To be ill.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Dora was impressed and exhilarated. Could accu really be a
simple question of mind over matter? Other patients had already
benefited from the doctor's unique outlook on disease, and those
that resisted the will to mend, he left them to
(06:44):
their own devices. Doctor Ritter didn't like sick people, and
he certainly wasn't going to nurse dead weight. As time
went on, the pair developed a friendship. They bonded over
their fervent admiration of nature, in particular his concept of
(07:06):
the ubermensh or superman who transcends society's conventions in favor
of self reliance. They liked the idea of thriving through
discipline and determination, no matter the challenges in their way.
In fact, doctor Ritter shunned much of what society had
(07:27):
to offer. He rejected the evil inventions of modern costume,
in particular the mass produced civilized shoe. He chose to
weir homemade leather slippers instead. He was convinced that a
carnivorous diet was the enemy of the nervous system, and
(07:50):
he was therefore a strict vegetarian. Dora was still in
pain and limped when she walked. The will to mend
proving elusive, but she was nevertheless full of admiration for
the doctor.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Some have thought him an eccentric I know that he
was one of the world's geniuses.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Friedrich, in turn, recognized Dora's potential as an acolyte. Soon
they were in love.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Our happiest hours together were spent in unforgettable and endless talks,
during which I sat at the feet of this man
who looked on me as his disciple.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Like Dora, Friedrich was unhappily married, and the pair dreamt
of running away together. Of fleeing civilization for solitude and
radical independence. Germany seemed to have little to offer them.
Not only did social mares dictate that they remain with
their spouses, but the early nineteen twenties had seen astronomical
(09:04):
inflation as the German mark became all but worthless. Many
people had found their life savings wiped out. Now the
forces of nationalism and fascism were on the rise. The
paramilitary wing of the growing Nazi Party, the thuggish Sturm
Up Thailand, had begun to attack its enemies on the
(09:26):
open streets. Germany seemed poised to descend into darkness. Dora
and Friedrich spent many secretive hours together pouring over maps
in the State Library of Berlin in search of an
island paradise. They agreed it should be tropical.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
In not having to spend our energy in the rough
struggle against inclement weather, we should have the more left
for that higher struggle in which we were engaged.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Eventually they settled on the small Galapagos island of Flora.
They'd read about its diverse flora and fauna and its
fresh water spring in the work of naturalist William Beebe,
and they liked the fact that he had described the
archipelago as the world's end.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
We had chosen a place where no one was for
we had learned that it is the contact with unlike
natures that destroys the inner harmony of lives.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They began to prepare for island life, choosing only the
most necessary of their possessions bedding, cooking utensils, carpenter's tools,
Nietzsche's Zarathustra, some Greek and Latin textbooks. Dora packed a
few simple dresses of artificial silk, believing the fabric would
(11:03):
keep her cool in the intense tropical heat. Anticipating dental
problems and committed to a life without the extravagance of
health care services, Friedrich had all of his teeth pulled out.
He was fitted with a set of steel dentures. Part
pragmatism and part experiment.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
He had a scientific desire to find out whether gums
might be so far toughened as to become a substitute
for teeth in chewing.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
There was one final problem for the couple to solve
before they left Germany. Their jilted spouses would no doubt
suffer grievously in their absence. It was Dora, who came
up with the solution their partners could simply set up
house together somehow. Perhaps fearing scandal, Dora's husband and Friedrich's
(12:01):
wife agreed to move in together, and in July nineteen
twenty nine, Dora and Friedrich sets for Ecuador. In her
book Eden Undone Abbot, Kayla describes how their ship cruised
through the Bay of Biscay and passed the dramatic cliffs
(12:25):
of the Azores. Eventually they crossed the Panama Canal and
landed on the mangrove fringed coast of Ecuador. Here they
bordered a boat of Floriana. From the deck of their schooner,
Dora and Friedrich watched the island they'd readabout draw closer,
(12:48):
its rugged volcanic mounds rising from the ocean.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
We landed, our hopes as cloudless as the sky against
which the great extinct volcano darkly rose.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Night was already falling, and Dora observed how the red
rays of the sun gilded the ocean, where black shark
fins cut through the surface of the water. A cacophony
of unseen birds and insects mingled with the roar of the.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Surf Friederich and I forgetful of all matters, took each
other by the hand and started to go inland, the
two children of our German fairy tale, setting forth to
find the treasure at the Rainbow's End.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
A German fairy tale, perhaps, so what awaited them was
a story worthy of the brother's grim cautionary tales will return.
(14:05):
In twenty sixteen, the British television network Channel four launched
a reality television experiment. Twenty three men and women were
dispatched to the remote reaches of the Scottish Highlands. They
were to remain there for a year, cut off from
the rest of society, building their own shelter, growing their
(14:27):
own vegetables, and racing their own livestock. The TV show,
which was called Eden, contemplated a simpler time, a world
untainted by civilization. It asked what if we could start again,
how would we create society from scratch. Many of the
(14:50):
participants felt disillusioned with twenty first century life. Among their
number was a doctor, a vet, a chef, a carpenter,
a shepherdess. You get the idea. But after just a
few installments, the show went dark. There were no more
(15:10):
dispatches for a year. Then it returned with a new name,
Eden Paradise Lost. Channel four's commissioning editor Ian Dunkley explained
how the experiment had taken on a life of its own.
I don't think anyone expected it to go as feral
(15:33):
and dark as it did. Faced with the physical hardship
of the experiment, the group had quickly fractured into cleats.
The women described being bullied by their peers for their
perceived physical weakness. They were advised to stick to trivial
tasks like washing, cleaning, and gardening, while the men chopped
(15:58):
wood and handled the hunting and fishing. Bickering about rations spiraled. Rath,
a carpenter from London, described how our hunger had eroded
any shred of group solidarity. I went in wanting to
help everyone and share my skills, but that turned into
(16:19):
if I do this for you, I can get that.
Like many of the women, Ali, a doctor, left the
experiment early. She said, I saw the darkness coming. Dora
and Friedrich gradually explored their island. Pirates and pioneers had
(16:46):
come and gone over the years, leaving their stamp on Floriana.
Some barrels at the main bay, A dilapidated hut, an
improvised bed in a cave, but at present it was uninhabited.
They built a small settlement on a lush acre of
land near the fresh water spring. Friedrich gave their new
(17:09):
home a name.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
This is our place, Dora, and we shall call it Freedom.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It was a portmanteau of their own names, but it
also echoed the German word for peace. Freedom.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
All my heart went out in happiness to our eden
found and to this man whose dream was my dream.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Friedrich salvaged an old pipe and managed to connect the
kitchen of their shack with running water. Dora rescued some
half starved chickens and kept them as her pets. Later,
she took an old donkey in, calling him Burrow. Friedrich disapproved,
(17:58):
your affection for these wild creatures is no more or
less than a flattering and cherishing of the animal in yourself.
Friedrich remained on a pedestal for Dora, but she also
began to feel a little uneasy in their relationship. As
they worked together on their new home. Friedrich seemed to
(18:20):
disregard her limited mobility. Everything Dora did was to his
eternal dissatisfaction. They survived mostly on eggs, fruit and vegetables. Friedrich,
who said he would not touch any food obtained through violence,
refused potato and beetroot on account of the brutal force
(18:44):
required to wrench them from the earth. Bananas and other
fruit were in plentiful supply on the island, but the
couple struggled to get their crops to flourish.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
That is the odd thing about the Floriana soil. It
can be made to bear rich life, but it's so
shallow that nothing can take firm root in it. Perhaps
there was that an all men for us, but neither
of us knew it.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
Then.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
In fact, at times the island seemed rather hostile to them.
Cockroaches devoured Dora's artificial silk dresses, and ants attacked their
scant food stores. Friedrich railed against this disrespect of private property.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
As the socialism of the ends is nothing more than
a systematic common robbery of all us a life.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
The vampiric sand fleas borrowed into the souls of Dora's feet,
which erupted into painful, festering sores. Friedrich removed thirty two
of them. The operation was excruciating. Dora and Friedrich had
gone to pains to flee civilization. They had not reckoned
(20:09):
civilization following them. But when passing ships dropped off food
parcels and seeds for things like coffee and cabbages, they
weren't displeased. One wealthy American captain was a regular visitor.
A courier was also specially dispatched by the Ecuadorian post
(20:29):
office to deliver their mail. One day, a few months
into their adventure, they were astonished to receive a parcel
containing forty six letters and a newspaper. These missives were
from total strangers, complimenting the couple's courage and ingenuity. What
(20:50):
was going on? Hands trembling, Dora opened up the newspaper.
She'd been fearful to read of more political turmoil back home,
but what she found on those pages was much more disturbing.
A headline told of Dora and Friedrich's flight from human society.
(21:13):
It covered the breakup of their marriages in lurid detail.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I felt as though the things that Friedrich and I
held most sacred were being dragged mercilessly through the Maya.
I was inconsolable.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
More letters followed. Friedrich and Dora tried to ignore them,
but more often than not, a horrible fascination compelled them
to open up the envelopes. Dora was filled with the
cold horror that some of these tactless intruders might come
(21:51):
and find them. She was right well. Free pleasure seekers,
intrigued by the German couple they'd read about in the
newspapers liked to pass by Floriana on their yachting trips.
Most were just passing through then the Vitmers arrived. Heines
(22:15):
and Margaret had also wanted to leave behind modern city
life in Germany and had been drawn to the Galapagus
Islands by the newspaper stories. They had brought with them
their thirteen year old son, Harry. This seemed to Dora
to be immensely irresponsible. Were still Margaret was five months pregnant.
(22:38):
Having read about Friedrich's medical training, the Vitmers were apparently
expecting him to assist in the delivery.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Friederich was anything but pleased.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
But by and large the new neighbors rubbed along without
too much difficulty. Journalists continued to pitch up on Floriana,
casting Dora and Friedrich as modern crusoes and Adam and
Eve the newspaperman noted that Eve in particular Paradise seemed
(23:12):
a little disappointing. They commented on the couple's rustic abode.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I saw cracks and chinks in the walls through which
I could stick my arm.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And on Friedrich's glittering teeth.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Instead of toothpaste and a brush, he shined them up
once in a while with a ward of steel wool.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Abbot Kayla notes a central irony in her book Eden Undone.
Friedrich and Dora had fled civilization, only to become obsessed
with how civilization perceived them. One journalist, Rob Blomberg, thought
that Friedrich rather liked having his picture taken, although he
(23:54):
claimed he had no desire to make a sensation. In
nineteen thirty two, another tactless intruder arrived, the baroness Antonia
Wagner von Verborn Mosquiere. Dora watched through narrowed eyes as
(24:14):
she rode up to Fredo on a donkey.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
She was platinum blonde, her eyes were hidden behind dark spectacles.
She wore a kind of workman's overalls with sandals on
her bare feet, and the bearer sat jauntily upon her head.
It was all obviously composed for effect, but not without
a certain artificial charm.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
The baroness carried a whip and a revolver, and flanking
her on foot was her adoring retinue, Robert Phillipson, her lover,
and Rudolph Florence, who seemed to be a kind of
unpaid servant who was more than happy to have fawn
on her. The baroness hailed from Austria via Paris, or
(25:03):
so she said. Dora doubted her story.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
If this were a mere baroness, she certainly behaved as
though she were at least a queen.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Dora was convinced that she meant to fight them for
conquest of the island, to subjugate them to her rule.
The imperious baroness did indeed have something up her sleeve.
We'll find out what after this short break. Before long,
(25:43):
the baroness had announced her plans. She was going to
build a luxury hotel on Floriana. Dora and Friedrich were
disgusted that Hacienda Paradiso would, no doubt draer deluge of
American millionaires, turning their island into.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
A sort of Miami.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
This wasn't the utopia that had in mind tall. Elsewhere,
cracks became craters. On one occasion, the Baroness took some
bags of rice that the Vitmars had ordered and held
them for ransom. On another, Dora was convinced that the
Baroness had stolen her donkey. When the elderly Burro was
(26:31):
finally returned home, he seemed dejected. Dora thought his skin
had been rubbed raw by ropes and heavy weights. Overall,
life was getting grimmer. One by one, Dora's teeth began
to rot. Friedrich seized the opportunity to criticize her love
(26:53):
of sugar and performed agonizing extractions on her without dental
equipment or painkillers. After that, they shared the notorious steel dentures.
Whenever they were in company, only the person wearing the
teeth would speak. Friedrich monopolized them for long stints, and
(27:16):
Dora grew ever more silent. The Baroness steamed ahead with
her plans for a luxury hotel. She gathered flamingos for
a Floriana zoo, and she ordered one hundred sheets of
corrugated iron to serve as the hotel walls. Soon, a
(27:38):
penciled sign appeared at the island's main bay. Friends. Two
hours from here lies the Hacienda Paradiso, where the weary
traveler can rejoice in Paradiso. You have only one name, friend.
Yet for all these promises of friendship, it was clear
(28:00):
that there was trouble at the Paradiso. The Baroness's servant,
Rudolph Florenz, became increasingly frail and unhappy.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
His whole manner, expressed a terrible resignation.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Lorenz confided to Dora and Friedrich that the Baroness was
violent towards him and was holding him prisoner. Heinz Vitmer
agreed that the Baroness was a menace. Dora recorded his
raving fury.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
We'll let her get away with everything. What I want
is for us to all get together now and put
an end to this rottenness. We are our own law
here on Floriana.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And then quite suddenly the Baroness disappeared. The Vitmas believed
that she and Robert Phillipson had sailed to Tahiti. Perhaps
they had. Strangely, though, they had left all their belongings behind,
(29:06):
including the Baroness's most prized person ession, her copy of
a portrait of Dorian Gray.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Good riddance to foul rubbish.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Said Lorentz. Then he calmed. He asked Dora if she'd
like to buy any of the Baroness's effects from him.
He too was about to leave the island, and he
needed the money. That year, nineteen thirty four, a punishing
drought blasted Floriana.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
A strange wind rose like a vast fan of invisible fire.
Everything perished under its sweeping breath.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
The earth burned as though a furnace blazed beneath the
rocky ground. Even at night. The leaves withered on the trees,
and the fresh water spring at Fredo dried to a
weak trickle, gathering.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Evil was closing in upon the eye.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Friedrich brooded over his philosophical writings. Dora tended to the
animals and the garden alone. Their relationship broke down even further.
Friedrich started whipping Dora, and she felt her passion for
him and turn to hate. From the Channel four television
(30:38):
series Eden Paradise Lost, things go from bad to worse.
Bullies deride, experts and moonshine fuels fistfights. The group hasn't
caught as many fish as hoped, and boatman Anton is
suspected of sabotage. Soon he becomes the focal point of
(31:00):
everyone's eyre. He goes off to live in a log
cabin he's built for himself in the woods. Later, Anton
is voted out of the community. Before he leaves, he
burns his carefully constructed cabin to the ground. If he
can't have it, no one else will either. Next, members
(31:23):
of an all male clique calling itself the Valley Boys
make fun of cameraman Matt because he dates men, not women.
Their language is obscene, but confronted, they dismiss it all
as mere banter. The Valley Boys embark on an all
meat diet and start slaughtering the communal livestock at an
(31:46):
alarming rate. Veterinarian Rob is horrified. Just before he leaves Eden,
he sees decomposing animal heads hanging from trees around the
Valley Boy's camp. The valley stinks of rotting meat. He says,
it's a muddy, dark, stinking hell. The idea that civilization
(32:19):
has corrupted us can be a tempting one. It's easy
to imagine that without the demands and complications of modern society,
life would be blissful. That if we could just shake
off the rules, a more authentic existence awaits us. But
the story of Floriana suggests that without the machinery of civilization, abuse,
(32:44):
opportunism and brute force can win out. The rules might
seem like shackles, but they can also help keep us safe.
So perhaps it's worth being wary of people who fantasize
about throwing off the rules. Perhaps we should question their motives.
(33:04):
What is it that they want to do once they're
cut off from the rest of society. How might they
treat other people? After all, the isolated setting of Eden
Paradise Lost amplified some of mankind's ugly traits selfishness, homophobia, bigotry, misogyny.
(33:28):
We had the opportunity to show some of humanity's strengths,
Carpenter Wrath reflected, Really, we showed a lot of society's weaknesses.
(33:48):
No one on or off Floriana ever saw or heard
from the baroness and her lover, Robert Phillipson. Again, perhaps
they did start afresh on Tahiti. Perhaps, but it seems unlikely.
When she was so excited about her new hotel, Rudolf
Florenz vanished too that his mummified body was eventually found.
(34:14):
In his haste to get away from Floriana, he had
blundered onto another island, one without any access to fresh water.
He died of thirst. In December nineteen thirty four, an
American captain landed on Floriana. It visited the island several
(34:38):
times before, and he was used to Friedrich coming to
greet him, asking if he had brought anything from the mainland,
But this time Friedrich was nowhere to be seen. Eventually,
he heard a woman shout, and then he saw Dora
stumbling towards him, gripping her cane. She was crying. She
(35:01):
told the captain a terrible tale. The long drought had
ruined Friedrich and Dora's crops, and actantly they decided they
must slaughter one of their pet chickens.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
There was a certain degree of danger in this, we
very well knew, for our chickens had been decimated lately
by a curious sickness.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Friedrich thought they could neutralize whatever poison was in the
bird by cooking it thoroughly. When he was satisfied, they
took the chicken to their dining table.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
We ate one spoonful of it each for the sake
of necessary nourishment, and made the rest of the meal
of our vegetarian fair.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
Later, Friedrich began to complain that he felt ill. Dora
wondered if it could be the chicken, although she herself
felt fine.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
It may be something else, but don't worry. I should
be all right.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Friedrich was not all right. Nausea set in, and then
aagonizing pain. It became clear to Dora that a tide
of poison was overwhelming him.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
At last, an icy sweat broke out. It was the
sweat of death. He knew that he was lost, and
I could only look on, ignorant and helpless.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Never one to waste an opportunity for philosophical enlightenment, Friedrich
asked Dora to read to him from Nietzsch's Thus spake Zarathustra.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Mark these lines, Dora, and remembers them always in memory
of me.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Later, when Friedrich was too weak even to speak, Dora
brought him a pencil and paper. He managed to convey that,
in no circumstances should she go to their neighbors, the Victmas,
for help with her difficulty walking, she might not make
it on her own. Dora began to despair. What if
(37:20):
she were left at Fredo alone. Eventually she did go
for help, that there was nothing to be done. Dora, Margaret,
and Heintz watched as Friedrich convulsed and then passed away. Together,
they buried him in his favorite corner of the garden.
(37:45):
The American captain was deeply saddened by the news. He
had been fond of Friedrich. A few days later, he
helped Dora onto a boat bound for Germany. It was
now under the Nazi dictatorship of adult Hitler, but Dora
had nowhere else to go. At Vitma remembered Friedrich's demise
(38:11):
a little differently. She was perplexed by the fact that,
even though Dora and Friedrich had apparently eaten the same meat,
one of them was at death's door and the other
had suffered no ill effects. Nor could she understand why
Dora had waited so long to come to them for help.
(38:32):
She remembered something else too. Whenever Dora drew near Friedrich,
he would try to hit her, kick her, his eyes
filled with hate. Mustering all his effort, he had scrawled
his companion a final message with pencil and paper. Margaret
(38:53):
saw the note.
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I curse you with my dying breath.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Heinz Vittmer and his older son carried Friedrich's body to
its final rest place in the garden, and Margaret decorated
the grave with flowers. Dora said Margaret did not attend
the funeral. The key sources for this episode are Dora
(39:32):
Streuch's memoir Satan Came to Eden and Abbott Kaylor's book
Eden Undone, A True Story of Sex, Murder and Utopia
at the Dawn of World War II. For a full
list of sources, see the show notes at Timharford dot com.
(39:54):
The Cautionary Tales is written by me Tim Harford with
Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly. It's produced by
Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design and original
music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional sound design
is by Carlos san Juan at Brain Audio. Bend A.
D Afhaffrey edited the scripts. The show features the voice
(40:17):
talents of Genevieve Gaunt, Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough,
Sarah Jupp, the Saimunroe, Jamal Westman, and Rufus Wright. The
show also Wouldn't have been possible without the work of
Jacob Weisberg, Retta Cohene, Sarah Nix, Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody,
Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. Cautionary Tales is
(40:41):
a production of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at Wardhore Studios
in London, i Noria Barr and Lucy Rowe. If you
like the show, please remember to share, rate and review.
It really makes a difference to us and if you
want to hear the show, add free sign up to
Pushkin Plus on the show page on Apple Podcasts or
at pushkin dot fm, slash plus
Host
Tim Harford
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