The story I am about to relate to you is non-political, it is not personal either. It is a story that is unfolding right this moment in the small town of Amstetten, in central Austria.
On the 19th of this month a young girl of 19 years was brought into hospital by her grandfather Josef Fritzl in serious physical condition, she was unconscious and suffering from a mysterious combination of illnesses amongst which is Renal Failure.
When questioned by doctors about his granddaughter Kerstin's condition Mr. Fritzl produced a note from the girl's mother, his daughter Elizabeth, stating that he found the girl unconscious at the doorstep of his house.
Apparently his daughter, Kerstin's mother, had run away to a join a cult 24 years ago and that he had not seen her since.
The Doctors, unable to diagnose Kerstin without a proper medical history, appealed to the mother to come forward to help aid in her critically ill daughter's treatment.
Miraculously, not long after the appeal went out, Mr Fritzl appeared at the hospital with his daughter Elisabeth and her two children Stefan and Felix. He claimed that she, his daughter, has decided to finally "come home".
If you are still interested, please follow me after the jump for the rest of the story.
On the mornings of the 27th & the 28th, people around the world woke up to these headlines:
SLAVE IN A CELLAR FOR 24 YEARS.
ABUSED GIRL HAD 7 KIDS
Mirror.co.uk, UK - Apr 27, 2008
Austrian woman says held, abused by father 24 years
Reuters.fr, France - Apr 27, 2008
Austrian woman says held, abused by father 24 years
ABS CBN News, Philippines - Apr 27, 2008
Austrian police trawl for evidence in "horror house"
Swissinfo, Switzerland - Apr 28, 2008
Father imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered her seven ...
Xabar.info, Azerbaijan - Apr 28, 2008
And from there the horror of this story began to unfold to a dismayed public.
After receiving assurances from the police that neither she nor her children would ever be forced to see Mr. Fritzl again, at the age of 42 Elizabeth Fritzl began to recount her story to the Amstetten Police.
A story which one Austrian newspaper described as "the worst crime of all time".
Elizabeth
Born in 1966, by the age of 11 the tenderly young Elizabeth begins experiencing systematic sexual abuse by the hands if her father Josef.
Abuse that continued, apparently unabated and unhindered by suspicion or detection on the part of anyone. Least of all it seems by Elizabeth's mother Rosemary.
In August 1984, at the age of 18, the age of freedom and university for Austrian children, an age for which she no doubt was yearning, Elizabeth was drugged by her father and taken to an underground dungeon masquerading as a cellar; Never to emerge again until that day 24 years later at her daughter's beside at the hospital.
Home for 24 years
To explain his daughter's disappearance Josef reported his daughter missing, and even performed tearful television appeals for his daughter's return. One month on from her disappearance, Josef Forced his daughter to write a letter telling her parents to stop looking for her. Mr Fritzl then informs all whom it may have concerned that his daughter has joined a cult.
Josef Fritzl
Living under her fathers total control, in a concrete sound proofed dungeon with no access to daylight apart from that reproduces on the television screen, Elizabeth bore her first child, a girl she named Kerstin in 1988. The pain and fear of a first time birth by a young girl alone in a concrete cellar are unknown to me.
I fear I am finding the experience unimaginable.
The abuse the father inflicted on his daughter was unfazed by the birth of his first granddaughter who is also his daughter. So, as Elizabeth's ordeal continued so did the the lonely births.
In 1989 Stefan is born, 1992 Lisa, 1994 Monika, 1996 twins are born of whom only Alexander survived, the nameless twin's lifeless body was allegedly burned by Josef.
In 2002 Felix is born.
Of the six children three were moved by Josef into the house upstairs. He had arranged for them to be found at his doorstep, with a letter written by his daughter asking for them to be adopted by their kindly grandparents. The three children Lisa, Monika and Alexander were each still short of their first birthday.
Upstairs and Downstairs
And so it went four 24 years and through seven children until the day Kerstin became ill and was again found at her father/grandfather's doorstep unconscious and in physical dire straits.
After A physical examination of all the children Stefan was found to be emotionally troubled and with sever eyesight problems due to the total lack of exposure to daylight for the first 19 years of his life.
Kerstin is in intensive care with a prognosis that is not encouraging. Felix the Six year old child who was left in he dungeon/cellar with his mother and sibling was said to be in good health and to show wild excitement at being i the police for the first time in his life... He's only ever seen them on television.
All the children and their mother have been take into care and are under going counseling.
DNA has since confirmed that the children are indeed Josef's. He has since confessed to abusing and imprisoning his daughter .
The police say, that Josef's wife claims to be totally ignorant of what was happening beneath her house and to her daughter; She too is under going counseling.
The dungeon Itself was work of immense complexity. Soundproofed wall and a secret door with a coded lock for which only Josef has the number. In some areas the height of the ceiling was no more than 1.5 meters.
(Click "view image" to see larger diagram)
Ever since this has come to life the town of Amstetten has been in shock.
A vigil was held and candles were lit.
Vigil
The towns people and neighbours testified as to how normal the family seemed, and how caring both grandparents were to the three children taking them to and from school.
Following each adoption social workers made several visits to the house and never noticed anything unusual.
Mr Fitzl Obtained the permits to extend the basement in 1978 and municipality officials examined the site itself in 1983 and noticed nothing unusual about the construction.
How could such a thing go unnoticed and undetected by all? It is worth noting that Fritzl was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in the 1960s and had spent time in prison, a police source said. He also had another conviction for arson. And yet no one suspected, least of all his own 66 year old wife Rosemary!
Mr. Fritzl faces up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted of raping and beating his daughter, and sequestration. The Police are also considering charges of "murder through failure to act" in connection with the death of one of the seven children he fathered.
On vacation
The immensity of this crime is beyond my personal comprehension. That is really the main reason I wrote this diary, thinking perhaps if I write I can understand it.
Well I'm nearly at the end of the story and I am still dumbfounded and numb. I can't even feel pain or sorrow because I can't understand the immensity of the trauma and the torture.
Trying to conceive of the misery and the cruelty of this tale of true life, to me has been like trying to conceive the size of the universe.
I can't seem able to do it; I know it's extremely big but I am unable to internalize the true size of it.
Perhaps you can help.
Another side of this story is a cautionary tale for all of us to be aware of our surroundings, to try to connect with the people within our circle of knowledge, in order to perhaps see the horrors that go on all around us.
Video of news coverage.
Latest
links to the story
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...