Secrets in the Cellar: A True Story of the Austrian Incest Case That Shocked the World

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Elisabeth Fritzl: I never want to see my father Josef again". Daily Telegraph. 11 May 2008. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009 . Retrieved 19 March 2009. In 1967, Fritzl broke into the Linz home of a 24-year-old nurse while her husband was away and raped her while holding a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her if she screamed. [13] According to an annual report for 1967 and a press release of the same year, he was also named as a suspect in a case of attempted rape of a 21-year-old woman, and was known for indecent exposure. Fritzl was arrested and served 12 months of an 18-month prison sentence. [14] In accordance with Austrian law, his criminal record was expunged after 15 years. As a result, more than 25 years later, when he applied to adopt and/or foster Elisabeth's children, the local social service authorities did not discover his criminal history. [15] [16] Suspected murders [ edit ] His defense lawyer points to his Nazi era childhood. Born in 1935, the Nazis were taking over Austria. Josef Fritzl was brought up as an only child by a strict and cruel mother, a woman he worshiped, telling the Austrian magazine she was the best woman in the world. Boyes, Roger (20 March 2009). "Jozef Fritzl: no plans for investigation into police and social service failings". Times Online. London. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 . Retrieved 22 March 2009. I screamed many times during those long years, but no one ever heard.” An illness prompts a visit to the hospital

I suppose you could describe me ” he admits he had sexual longings for her but says “i was capable to keep my desires under ” meanwhile, the victims of his cruelty, the six children he fathered, his daughter, Elisabeth, and his wife, Rosemarie, were reunited in a psychiatric clinic outside Amstetten, where they could get the emotional counseling they needed.On 19 March 2009, Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 15 years. [10] He said that he accepted the sentence and would not appeal. [63] Fritzl is currently serving out his sentence in Garsten Abbey, a former monastery in Upper Austria that has been converted into a prison. [64] Government response [ edit ] Weaver, Matthew (28 April 2008). "Timeline: Austrian cellar case". London: guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013 . Retrieved 29 April 2008.

In March 2009, Elisabeth and her children were forced to move out of the family's hide-away home and returned to the psychiatric clinic where medical staff had started trying to heal the family and unite the "upstairs" and "downstairs" siblings during the previous year. Elisabeth was reported to be distraught and close to a breakdown after a British paparazzo had burst into her kitchen and started taking photographs. [56] Although many lessons could be learned from the saga, the family insists on maintaining anonymity. The silence was somewhat broken in 2010 by Josef Fritzl’s sister-in-law who identified herself to the media only as Christine R. She says Elisabeth is slowly returning to a normal life. She told reporters: Translator: She was given this assurance and then without a break in a mere two hours she gave an account of the 24 years she spent in the cellar. She talked about how her own father, Josef Fritzl, had imprisoned her at age 18 in a cellar compound he had secretly designed and built in their own house. There he raped her repeatedly. There she’d given birth to seven children. In hindsight, and to an outside observer, it is almost inconceivable that this man claimed support.Translator: If we want to discuss when things deteriorated for Elisabeth, then certainly there was the moment when she realized that she was pregnant for the first time. It’s so unusual and extraordinary to me that it’s not only in a home in a city but in what sounds like an apartment building and certainly a closely surrounded one. Fritzl's troubled childhood analysed in court". The Guardian. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015 . Retrieved 30 October 2015. Her parents are Josef and Rosemarie Fritzl. She has three brothers and three sisters. She gave birth to seven children while captive. One passed away, while the three that were taken to be raised by her parents as their own were Lisa, Monika, and Alexander. The three children who were held captive with her were Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix. Associated With

Translator: This is something the police see time and time again and, as we all know, every child leaves the family home at some point. Austria incest trial under way". Al Jazeera English. 16 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011 . Retrieved 14 September 2012. When Elisabeth was 15 years old, she began training to be a waitressat the Rosenberger highway rest stop on the A1 autobahn near Strengberg. She and other girls in the program slept in a dormitory below the kitchen. For the first time in her life, Elisabeth felt safe. And then the worry throughout the pregnancy whether her child would be healthy and the births, themselves, would have taken their toll. Especially given there was no help on hand. Like a midwife or a doctor. How he’s able to — how he was able to construct this, soundproof it to the extent that he did and, yet, that still air to breathe could get in and out for these individuals is far beyond my engineering capacity.The environment in this room where the ceilings were kept very low, around six foot at the highest point, the environment was anything but pleasant because everyday living, personal hygiene, etcetera, must have kept the level of humidity high. Pancevski, Bojan (22 March 2009). "Fritzl prison has gym, choir and tennis classes". The Times of London. Archived from the original on 5 August 2010 . Retrieved 23 September 2010. Mother and six children held in underground room for 24 years see outside world for first time- the Fritzl case - Altered Dimensions Paranormal". Altereddimensions.net. 8 March 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022 . Retrieved 19 August 2022. The provisions were taken underground at night. Clearly, Fritzl was not your typical criminal with a short attention span and an unconscious need to be found out.

Judge Humer, who presided over the trial, stated medical experts reported Elisabeth and her children were in "relatively good health." After being taken into care, Elisabeth, all six of her surviving children and her mother were housed in a local clinic where they were shielded from the outside environment and received medical and psychological treatment. Members of the Fritzl family were offered new identities, but it was emphasized that it was their choice to make. [45] There are lots of things which have been reported badly or wrongly. I mean, first, I mean, the children speak normal German. They communicate as anybody does. They walk as anybody does. And also what has been reported about Elisabeth, I mean, she’s a normal looking woman, very attractive person. If you meet her and if you see her, you know, the most important point right now is that she has the feeling that the kids are happy. They feel comfortable. And that gives her, I would say, the best relief. Bearing her father’s seven children. In 1988, the first child, Kirsten, was born in the cellar with no medical assistance. Elisabeth was all of 22. Cellar incest girl 'will recover' ". BBC News. 11 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008 . Retrieved 12 June 2008.

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Fritzl is a very unusual man, which kept these crimes unsuspected for more than two decades. It was the amount of planning and the amount of control. Chancellor of Austria Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch a foreign public image campaign for his country, in light of the "abominable events." [65] Aftermath [ edit ]