Painful memories of Nazi Germany

Fritzl wanted his daughter to grow up into a 'perfect' housewife, a notion he had inherited from Austria's Nazi past

Mehru Jaffer Vienna

It seems Austria was so busy seducing tourists with the superior air and water found on picturesque mountain tops here that it overlooked what was going on in windowless dungeons below its own bedroom. This picture postcard country was rocked when the lurid tale of Josef Fritzl came out. Fritzl, a 73 year old electrician, had imprisoned his daughter, Elisabeth, for 24 years in the cellar of his house in Amstetten, a little town west of Vienna sourrounded by orchards and endless vineyards. In the airless premises, Fritzl fathered seven children from his own daughter, the youngest of whom is five years old. All this while Fritzl continued to live upstairs with Rosemarie, his 68 year-old-wife, and mother of seven grown up children.

In August 1984, Elisabeth, then 18, was reported missing from Amstetten. Word was spread that she had run away from home to join a sect. In consecutive years three children appeared on the Fritzl doorstep with notes written by Elisabeth that she was unable to care for them. These three children were adopted by the 'grandparents' and lived like other children in the neighbourhood. Three other children remained in the cellar with their mother. In fact, they had never even seen daylight until their rescue in April this year. Police say Fritzl confessed to burning the body of a seventh child shortly after it died in infancy.

Fritzl further confessed that Elisabeth was wayward and disobedient as a teenager. That she hung out till late at night in the company of friends he did not approve of. He was forced to act and to do something about Elisabeth to discipline her. He created a place where Elisabeth was separated from the world Fritzl did not like and he used force to do so. Fritzl allegedly drugged, handcuffed and locked Elisabeth up when she was 18. For nearly quarter of a century after, she was repeatedly raped by her own father.

 Franz Polzer, head of the police investigation team, told the Austrian news agency, Austria Presse Agentur, that for the first nine years of Elisabeth's imprisonment, the cellar had just one room, implying that acts of incest were committed before the couple's young children. Gradually, the living premises — behind two heavily reinforced concrete doors that were fitted with electric locks — were enlarged.

 The crime came to light only when Kerstin, 19, Elisabeth's eldest child, fell seriously ill and was rushed to hospital on April 19. Fritzl's neighbours and acquaintances had expressed shock at the allegations, saying he treated his grandchildren affectionately and appeared to be a good grandfather. Even former colleagues described him as hard working and polite. But Ernst Berger, a Vienna-based psychiatrist, told reporters that criminals like Fritzl often show no sign of their psychological disturbance. They can appear to be quite normal. Fritzl aroused little suspicion, as he seemed no different to most Austrian men.

Fritzl is an extreme case but he is still the product of a society that remains largely authoritarian. In this incident, sexuality is used only as an excuse to exert complete power and control over a woman.