There is a woman out there in Austria who spent 24 years of her
life without seeing the daylight because of the fact that her father imprisoned
her in an underground cellar. But this is the least of her tragedy. The now
42-year-old Austrian woman had been raped by her own father from the age of 11
until now. As unbelievable as it sounds the now 73-year-old man, Josef Fritzl,
is the father of his daughter’s children.
Austrian investigators revealed Monday that they believed
Fritzl planned to lock his daughter six years before actually taking the
initiative. In 1978 he came up with the idea for a windowless warren under his apartment
building. In 1984, his 18-year-old daughter Elisabeth, was taken to a basement
dungeon (which by the way was not in the building’s plans) where she was left
for the past 24 years.
The only visitor that she had was her father, the man who
raped her. Elisabeth was kept in a cell secured by sophisticated electronics,
locks and a half-ton door, authorities said Monday. "You would have to
open up a total of eight doors, and ... (for the) last door which would go into
this space (where the family was imprisoned), you would also have to use
electronic opening apparatus," police spokesman Franz Polzer said.
Still, the terrified woman was not alone three out of four
children that she had with her father were also kept there. Elisabeth was
discovered after one of the children, who is now 19 years old, got sick two
weeks ago. Kerstin Fritzl fell seriously ill with convulsion and needed to be
taken to the hospital. Dr. Albert Reiter, who is treating Kerstin, said Monday
that while her condition is still "grave," it "has improved
somewhat."
The man confessed the fact that he terrorized his daughter
for the past 24 years. Elisabeth reunited with her mother, Rosemarie, and her
other children. They are now trying to organize themselves as a family. Dr. Berthold
Kepplinger, director of the psychiatric clinic that has been counseling and
caring for Elisabeth, Fritzl's wife and the children he had with his daughter,
said "Both sides of the family are slowly growing together. What is nice
is to see how the family is starting to organize daily life. Mother and
grandmother are preparing breakfast and dinner together. The children are
making their beds themselves."
