He is nicknamed the “national monster” in Austria. For more than 24 years, Josef Fritzl, an electrician and father, kidnapped and raped his daughter Elisabeth in a cellar-bunker in the basement of his house in Amstetten, 100 km west of Vienna. During all these years of captivity, he continued to live normally in his pavilion with his wife Rosemarie, Elisabeth’s mother. While the latter gave birth to seven children, all fathered by her father’s rapes. It was during the hospitalization of one of them that the news item came to light in 2009.
The incestuous torturer was then arrested and then sentenced to life in prison, after admitting the facts. Since then, he has been incarcerated in a high security prison. Fifteen years behind bars have passed, but Josef Fritzl could well be released. The 88-year-old man requested a transfer to a retirement home. This news makes Austria tremble, because if Josef Fritzl obtains his transfer, he could apply for parole.
In the eyes of Austrian justice, he “no longer poses a danger,” declared his lawyer Astrid Wagner on January 25. The judges based themselves on a psychiatric expert report, she explained, citing her advanced age and the onset of dementia. “This is an important first step. He must now be placed in a traditional detention regime and undergo regular examinations,” added the lawyer, specifying that her client was “very moved”. For the moment, justice blocked his transfer request on March 11, but is being studied again this Tuesday, April 30.
Josef Fritzl allegedly began sexually abusing his daughter Elisabeth when she was only 11 years old, in 1977. The following year, the father had an anti-atomic shelter built under his house. A usual approach in the middle of the Cold War. Élisabeth ran away for the first time when she was 16 years old and repeated the experience when she turned 18, in 1984. On August 28 of that same year, Josef Fritzl lured her into the basement of the family home, claiming to have need help opening a door. In reality, he drugs her with a rag soaked in ether, handcuffs her and locks her in the converted cellar. He then reported his daughter’s disappearance to the police.
The mother, Rosemarie, is worried and files a missing person complaint. Josef Fritzl then forces Élisabeth to write a false letter in which she asks her parents to stop looking for her. In it, she explains that she was tired of living with her family and that she was staying with a friend. The torturer then told the police that his daughter had most likely joined a cult.
For 24 years, Élisabeth lived in this 35 m2 cellar, transformed into a makeshift prison. Her father visits her almost every day to bring her food and rape her. In total, Elizabeth gave birth to eight children, one of whom was stillborn. Josef Fritzl seized three of them after a few years, making it appear that they had been abandoned, and adopted them with his wife. Later, law enforcement officials explained that the executioner had “very plausibly” told how the children appeared at his door.
The mother, Rosemarie, does not realize anything. When her husband goes down for hours to the basement, which he calls his “workshop,” he forbids her from joining her. Or even bring him a coffee. He makes her believe that he is working on a project as part of his job as an electrical technician and Rosemarie sees nothing but fire.
Life in this dead-end shelter is rudimentary. The family has a television, radio and VCR. A small kitchen allows you to heat up dishes and Élisabeth teaches her children to read and write. Josef Fritzl explains to them that they would be gassed if they tried to escape and that they would be electrocuted if they tried to touch the door. Investigators later claimed that these threats were not real, and simply intended to scare the victims.
The hell of Elisabeth and her children ends when Kerstin, the eldest daughter, is taken to the hospital by Josef Fritzl. She is in a coma due to kidney failure. This is the first time the two women have seen the light of day in years. Confused by the man’s version, the doctors alerted the police who issued a wanted notice for Kerstin’s mother. Élisabeth comes across the call for witnesses on her television screen and begs Josef Fritzl to take her to the hospital with her daughter, with her sons Stefan and Felix, on April 26, 2008.
Arriving there, the three victims were taken to the police station by the police who, at the same time, once again dug into the story of Elisabeth’s disappearance. During her interrogation, Élisabeth recounts her 24 years of captivity, her rapes and the abuse her father subjected her to. Josef Fritzl notably forced her to watch pornographic videos. The executioner is arrested during the night. For her part, Élisabeth finds her mother Rosemarie who had no idea of the hell her daughter had experienced.
After DNA tests confirmed that the children were those of Josef Fritzl, his trial began on March 16, 2009. The torturer pleaded guilty to all charges except the murder of one of his children. He is therefore sentenced to life imprisonment. But since September 2021, he has hoped to be transferred to a retirement home. His lawyer justifies this request by the beginnings of “dementia”. Faced with the risk of conditional release, the court has refused this request several times and is expected to issue a new decision this Tuesday, April 30.
Many Austrian, but also British, media have covered this story over the years. So much so that Josef Fritzl considers himself a star. He has made numerous appearances on Austrian television and several documentaries have been made about him. He even wrote a book from his cell, entitled The Abyss of Josef F.. In his work, he describes himself as a “responsible family man”, says he does not understand why his wife Rosemarie left him and claims to have received hundreds of letters from loving “female fans”.
After the trial, Élisabeth and her children were housed in a local clinic and underwent heavy medical and psychological treatment. An article in The Independent published in 2010 explains that the family had to change their identity and now live in the secret “Village X”. Josef Fritzl’s victims would lead normal lives. The torturer’s sister-in-law notably declared to the British media that “Elisabeth really likes shopping […] The children all go to school”.
