Family Of Daughter Held Captive For 24 Years Issues Public Message
Posted May 15, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
We’ve heard from his daughter.
And now for the very first time, we’re hearing from the kids involved in an unthinkable crime in Amstetten, Austria.
We’ve been following the case of Josef Fritzl for weeks. He’s the 73-year-old retired electrician accused of keeping his daughter locked up in a dungeon-like prison for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.
Elisabeth Fritzl has since responded in a limited way, as she struggles to recover from an ordeal beyond imagining. Her father ‘adopted’ three of her ‘abandoned’ children and one died in infancy. The rest were locked in that room with her their entire lives and had never seen the light of day, before one became seriously ill and had to be sent to hospital.
Since then, the family has been reunited and is receiving intensive therapy and medical aid. But they’re aware their story has both horrified and touched the world, their nation – and their formerly obscure hometown.
So on Wednesday, they came out with their own message, thanking those who worried about their welfare and letting them know they’re on the mend. In bright colours and childish writing, the large poster put up in a local store features drawings of their hands and personal messages from all of them, along with this text, written in German.
“We, the whole family, want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your sympathies with our fate. Your compassion helps us a lot to cope with this difficult time and shows us, that there are also good and honest people. We hope the time will come for us to find back into normal life again!”
The more personal messages are both touching and sad. The 18-year-old boy, one of those who had never before seen the sun, recalls how much it meant to him to be touched by the warmth of daylight and to encounter nature for the first time.
Many passersby have tears in their eyes as they stop to read the poster, whose bright colours belie the terrible crime that inspired it.
Fritzl remains in jail, charged with the awful acts. He has reportedly confessed to police and could face 20 years in prison if convicted.
Photo credit: Anton Kovacs/Getty Images
Previous stories:
Family reunited for first time
Accused father was ‘tyrant’ at home
