First this, and now this!?
Austrian admits 24-year abuse of captive daughter
By Sylvia Westall
AMSTETTEN, Austria (Reuters) – A 73-year-old Austrian electrical engineer has confessed to holding his daughter captive in a secret, windowless cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children by her, police said on Monday.
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Josef Fritzl is seen in this Austrian police handout picture released April 28, 2008. (REUTERS/HO/Police)
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The case, centred on a nondescript two-storey building in the small industrial town of Amstetten, bears chilling similarities to that of Austrian Natascha Kampusch who spent eight years locked up in a basement before escaping in 2006.
Some parts of the 60 square metre basement in which the family were kept were no more than 1.70 metres (5 ft 6 in) high and officials said the basement even contained a padded cell.
“This is an appalling crime. I know of no comparable case in Austria,” Franz Prucher, head of security for Lower Austria told a news conference.
Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, says her father, Josef Fritzl, lured her into the basement in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her.
Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked up in the basement with her since birth and had never seen sunlight, police said, raising worries about their physical and mental state. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl.
The victims are receiving medical treatment, said police.
Three other children — two girls and one boy — were adopted and brought up by Josef and his wife. Neighbours told police they had never heard the children locked in the cellar.
As well as confessing to locking up his daughter for 24 years and siring the seven children, Fritzl admitted to burning the body of the seventh child in a furnace used to heat the building when it died soon after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of criminal investigations in the state of Lower Austria.
Investigators combed through the cells where the victims had been held captive. Forensic experts in white uniforms and gloves carried out boxes of evidence from the building, which is home to several other families.
AUTHORITARIAN
Fritzl, whom police described as “dynamic, bossy and authoritarian”, had hidden the entrance to the cell behind shelves and only he knew the secret code for the reinforced concrete door, said officials.
Photographs showed a narrow passageway leading into other rooms which included a cooking area, with children’s drawings on the walls, a sleeping area and a small bathroom with a shower.
The victims’ only sources of information from the outside world were a television and radio.
Authorities said there were still many questions hanging over the case, such as the conditions surrounding the births of the children and how those locked in the cellar were provided with food and clothes.
Amstetten, located in rolling hills about 130 km (80 miles) west of Vienna, is a town of about 22,000 people.
The case unfolded when the 19-year-old girl became seriously ill and was taken to hospital, where doctors appealed for her mother to come forward to give details of her medical history.
The girl was suffering cramping fits caused by oxygen deficiency, chief doctor Albert Reiter told journalists, and was currently in a “severe but stable condition” in hospital. The cellar had been fitted with a basic ventilation system.
Fritzl brought Elisabeth and her remaining two children out of the basement, telling his wife their “missing” daughter had chosen to return home, police said.
Elisabeth agreed to make a thorough statement to the police after receiving assurances she would have no further contact with her father, who she said abused her from the age of 11.
SHAME
The case has raised questions about how authorities and neighbours failed to notice anything unusual in the “house of horrors”, on a busy street with shops, not least because over the years officials said Fritzl built extensions to the cellar.
“The community of Amstetten should drown in shame … The neighbours are turning a blind eye,” the Oesterreich newspaper wrote in an editorial.
Polzer said Fritzl had led a “double life” for 24 years.
“He deceived us all,” he told reporters. “This man, who already had a family with seven children by his wife, had in this cellar seven more children by his own daughter.”
Another puzzle is how Josef’s wife Rosemarie could have remained ignorant.
Police have said they believe Rosemarie did not know what happened to her daughter when she disappeared in 1984. It was assumed Elisabeth had left voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.
After Elisabeth disappeared, Fritzl said Elisabeth had joined a sect and that she had left the children on the doorstep. He forced Elisabeth to handwrite letters to prove his claims, said the police.
Psychiatrist Max Friedrich, who treated Kampusch, said the children who had been held in the cellar would need trauma therapy and were undergoing tests in hospital, in particular for problems with their eyes and skin due to the lack of daylight.
By contrast, the children raised by their grandparents were integrated into the community, said officials, noting they were members of the police sports club and voluntary fire brigade.
(Additional reporting by Alexandra Zawadil in Vienna and Reuters Television)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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Comments ( 8 )
raj, india added these pithy words on Apr 30 08 at 4:06 amits a very sad news. that inhuman dirty old man should be lynched in public.
Rohit Rahul added these pithy words on Apr 30 08 at 9:19 amIts not a shame on Austria, Its a shame on entire Humanity.
We, during the course of advancement, don’t know what a relationship means. How can a Father think of commiting this sin on his own Daughter. He should be burnt alive.
God bless Elisabeth and her children and hope she manages to come out of this trauma very soon.
We are with you!!
Joe added these pithy words on Apr 30 08 at 12:44 pmDuring WWII, Amstetten had a horrific female concentration camp nearby. Unimaginable torture and depravity was inflicted on the female prisoners by the guards. Many of the Amstetten locals worked as guards. Fritzl was 10 years old when it was still running. Of course, the locals said nothing. No one stood up and said this is wrong. Many of the children of the camp guards still live in the town, but it is taboo to mention it. The entire Amstetten society psychology was forever wrecked by its complicity in the running of a German concentration camp. It’s easy to see how a young Fritzl monster was formed.
Izzy added these pithy words on May 02 08 at 7:51 pmGood mention there Joe, very note worthy.
Ardor added these pithy words on May 03 08 at 1:43 amHaving have studied the psychology of Nazis quite extensively in the latter half of 2007, i would have to partly agree that the onus is on the knowledgeable bystanders. Silence tends to be taken by these people as consent for their actions. Of course parallels could be drawn between the mentality of the Nazis and that of this person thing here.
However in the interest of our very faith in humanity, let me point out that during the Nazi reign, much of the activities in the concentration camps, and indeed their very existence were denied or heavily shielded from the general public. And yes, they hid it very well, furthermore they had “help” from the reluctance of the media to report on such things(for various reasons, diplomatic tact being one).
Of course, there is no bliss in ignorance. On the bright side, those who were in the know, overcame their fears and DID something about it, however little were able to prevent the happenings on some level. The moral? There is no bliss in ignorance.
The following are helpful links,articles and books that would keep you informed about the psychology of evil, and most importantly where it may be happening now.
http://www.genocidewatch.org
Staub, E. (1989). The roots of evil: The origins of genocide and other group violence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ardor added these pithy words on May 03 08 at 1:54 amOops, double post. But here’s a similar case with less exposure by the media. It is however, even MORE horrifying than this one… yes, it is possible… apparently
In this case, the victims WERE brought to hospitals, they HAD contact with the general public, yet nothing was done to prevent it by anyone.
http://www.expatica.com/fr/articles/news/French-incest-victim-says-world-ignored-her-plight.html
chuan wei added these pithy words on May 10 08 at 5:52 amthere was another austrian case a couple of months back also
and may i add, not all Electrical Engineers are like him!
Reader added these pithy words on Aug 13 08 at 10:35 amHere is a comment that I would like to make
about Josef Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie …Clearly that “person” (and one has to stretch the
definition of the word “person” in order to apply
it to that creature) known to the world as Josef
Fritzl was / is the DEVIL-INCARNATE —- AND
he should burn in h*ll for all of eternity for his evil.In addition, it also needs to be stated that no person
on earth should allow themselves be fooled for
even one moment by the lies of “I didn’t know”
that are currently being claimed by that lying
and equally evil wife of this evil DEVIL!!!That vile, evil, perverted, disgusting, devil
b**tch of a wife of that MONSTER KNEW!!SHE KNEW!!! SHE KNEW!!! SHE KNEW!!!
She KNEW the whole time (or at least had
literally no excuse whatsoever to have not
at least ‘suspected’ something was amiss!!!)She is a LIAR and she must think the entire world is
as perverted as both she and her husband are and
that by coming up with that ridiculous and flimsy
excuse that she can then convince the rest of
the world to then respond to her own complicity
the same way she chose to respond to that of
her husband’s evil — by ‘turning a blind eye’.BOTH of them are utter DEVILS and one
cannot help but to hope that they both burn
in h*ll for all of eternity for their evil acts!!!!She expects anyone on this planet who has even
half-a-brain-stem to believe for even one fraction
of a moment that she didn’t know anything at all?!?!Give me a break!!!
For crying out loud–unless this woman is Helen
Keller –she has NO EXCUSE at all to not have
known (or at least ’suspected’) something strange
and conspiratorial was going on regarding her
daughter’s whereabouts and situation and that the
husband’s stories were just far too incredulous
and absolutely made no sense in the least bit!!!After all — think about it — daughter runs away as a
very young teen; daughter mysteriously disappears
at the age of 18 (an age when she can both make
her own decisions and choose to get away from
her father and even bring charges against him); the
(convicted-rapist/arsonist) father gets a letter from
daughter 1 month after her disappearance which
ridiculously claims she has joined a cult and does
not want to have any contact with the family – yet
amazingly then later chooses (for 3 years in a row)
to simply leave 3 of her newborn babies on the
doorstep of very home that she tried to run away
from at least 2 X’s before and is “allegedly thought”
to have finally left in order to join some sort of
“phantom” cult (a “cult” which, unlike every other
cult, just somehow, seemingly has no desire to try
to indoctrinate the youth from birth, but rather it
simply allows it’s members to select a home –one
which in fact, is both not a part of the cult AND is
the very home from which the member ran in order
to join the cult —to raise their babies and kids of
the cult members) –ALL THE WHILE – the father
forbids ANYONE to ever for ANY REASON dare to
go ANYWHERE NEAR the mysterious basement
(which he always keeps locked, disappears to for
hours and days on end; has ‘unseen’ bathroom
equipment installed; and has a cement-barricaded
door installed which both has a security-code and
which was so complicated it needed inspection
by local government authorities in order to install).Just 2 years before the “discovery” of what this
monster (and his devil wife via her complicity of
silence) did to their poor child – another young girl,
and former kidnap victim, was also found in Austria.It was discovered that the other young kidnap /
rape victim had disappeared 8 years earlier and
had been held in a basement / dungeon where
she had been repeatedly raped the entire time
by the individual who had also kidnapped her.Now —- even if the public was expected to
simply throw all common sense to the wind
and accept this monster’s devil-wife’s excuse
that she “didn’t know”, say, in the beginning …
it still stands to reason that after hearing about
the case of the other young girl 2 years earlier
—– this creep’s equally creepy wife would
have said something to herself like, say …”””Hmmm … a young girl who disappeared 8 years
ago, out of no where, has been discovered
to have been held in a basement the entire
time and while there she was repeatedly
raped by the person who trapped her there.Hmmm … my daughter, who repeatedly tried
to run away from my convicted-rapist husband
as a child has also mysteriously disappeared
– and – my convicted-rapist husband is
always coming across both ‘letters’ and
‘grandchildren’ that were allegedly left
by my daughter (who has vanished
without a trace) — and – meanwhile
my convicted-rapist husband also
has a mysterious basement that he
keeps under lock and key and never
allows anyone to come near — ever.Hmmm … now I cannot help but to wonder
if that convicted-rapist husband I married
just may have had something to do with
the disappearance of our daughter – and
— the appearance of all these grandkids
and letters – and I also can’t help but to
wonder if that mystery-basement room
of his would, in some way / in any way,
be connected somehow to our child’s
disappearance and / or the mysterious
appearance of all of these grandchildren.”””Yes – one would think that – even if this woman
could have claimed ‘ignorance’ earlier – (a lie
which, again, no one with any common sense
should ever consider buying into) – once the
discovery was made of a similar situation 2
years earlier – she then had NO excuse to not
have at least been suspicious of something
about her convicted-rapist husband and his
ever-so-mysterious hidden basement room.That vicious devil simply did not care at all about
her own daughter – or — she simply cared more
about her own creature-comforts and keeping up
with her middle-class appearances than she did
about the torture being done to her own child.THAT POOR GIRL’S VILE, DISGUSTING
PERVERTED LYING B*TCH OF A MOTHER
KNEW FULL WELL WHAT WAS GOING ON
– SHE KNEW– SHE KNEW– SHE KNEW!!!THAT WIFE IS A B*TCH, A DEVIL AND A
VILE PERVERT AND ONE CANNOT HELP
BUT TO TRULY HOPE THAT— SINCE SHE
OBVIOUSLY FELT SOME STRANGE NEED
TO BE SO VERY LOYAL TO THAT DEVIL,
OF A PERVERTED CONVICTED-RAPIST
AND ARSONIST FREAK OF A HUSBAND
OF HERS AND TO CHOOSE TO STAND BY
HIS SIDE FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY
ALL THE WHILE THAT HE IMPRISONED
AND ALSO SEXUALLY AND PHYSICALLY
AND MENTALLY TORTURED THEIR
CHILD — SHE WILL REMAINS BY
HIS SIDE AS THEY BOTH BURN
IN H*LL FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!!She is clearly as much of a
pervert and devil as is he!!Would anyone even be remotely surprised
if further investigation later revealed that
‘Rosemarie Fritzl’ (who is actually trying to
get the world to see her as a co-victim of
her daughter’s horrific nightmare of a life)
was actually just another ‘Rosemary West’
(a woman whose husband also originally –
and falsely – claimed that she had nothing
to do with his unbelievably evil sex crimes)?What kind of a woman, after all, chooses to marry
(or remained married to) a man who had already
committed and also been convicted of previously
raping another woman and has shown absolutely
no remorse about any of it whatsoever in the least.SHE KNEW!!! SHE KNEW!!! SHE KNEW!!!
Hi. I'm Xinch. I'm a proud Penangite. Passionate about many things. I love to talk, ramble, and thus, I blog. 
