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Elisabeth Fritzl and Family say "Thanks"
Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 6:01AM 
Elisabeth Fritzl was held captive by her father Josef Fritzl for 24 years in a cellar. She bore him 7 children while in captivity. It was only when one of her children Kerstin, 19, became very sick and had to be taken to the hospital, that Elisabeth was found and freed by the police. Josef Fritzl is in jail facing a multitude of charges. Elisabeth and her children have been placed under psychiatric care. To read the entire rescue story click here.
With the backing and encouragement of her doctors, Elisabeth,42, and her kids (Stefan 18, Lisa 16, Monika 14, Alexander 12 and Felix 6) made a huge 'Thank You' poster to express their gratitude for the support and concern from the public. The 8ft x 5ft illustrated poster features a thank you note with the family members' hands surrounding it, each with personal messages written inside. It is on display in a shop window in their hometown of Amstetten. The main message reads:
"We, the whole family, would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your sympathy for our fate.
"Your compassion is really helping us get through this difficult time and shows us that there are good people out there who care for us.
"We hope that the time will soon come when we can find our way back to a normal life."
Each person wrote an emotional individual message containing their wishes for the future. A heart shape marks their sister Kerstin, 19, who is still seriously ill and has been placed in a medically induced coma.
Here is a closer look at some individual messages
Stefan 18, who until his release two weeks ago had never seen the sun, or stood fully upright, wrote: "I like the sun, the fresh air and nature.
Lisa, 16, who was not locked in the dungeon but who lived with Fritzl and his wife upstairs, wishes for "love, happiness, health" and "that everything turns out well again".
Felix, 6, said he is dreaming of going by car again and by sledge, and he wants to play with other children and "run across a meadow". He had his first ride in a car when he was collected by police and officers spoke of his delight at the trip.
The doctors taking care of the family say that they will need time to adjust to the real world. Berthold Kepplinger, who runs the clinic, said it was becoming more apparent how much time the family needed to heal. He said that the Fritzls would "need to remain here for several more months".
He continued: "They all need to be very carefully protected and very slowly reintroduced to the real world, and to each other. In particular, Elizabeth and her two children from the cellar need to have further therapy to help them adjust to the light after years in semidarkness. "They also needed treatment to help them cope with all the extra space that they now have to move about in.
In an appeal to the public to respect the privacy of the family, Berthold Kepplinger also said:
"If the treatment is to work properly, then it is especially important that we get respect for their privacy, the need to this cannot be underestimated."
He added that the family reunion had "gone extremely well". The children were playing and enjoying activities such as painting. They had also been given a computer. However, balancing the needs of each family member was complex, he said. For example, the two cellar children and their mother needed peace and quiet and were being kept inside, whereas the three children that had normal lives until now were suffering from the enforced isolation.
Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian girl abducted as a 10-year-old and held captive in a basement for more than eight years until she escaped in 2007, also offered her help to the family, but questioned the decision to move them from the cellar into psychiatric care.
"Pulling them abruptly out of this situation, without transition, to hold them and isolating them to some extent, it can't be good for them," said Kampusch, now 20, in an interview. "I believe it might have been even better to leave them where they were, but that was probably impossible. This case is not like mine, where that was not my environment. They were born there and I can imagine that there is a strong attachment to that place."
Elisabeth's lawyer, Christoph Herbst said: "Elisabeth is very happy to be rediscovering the world. She is very keen to go outside and feel the rain on her skin. But it is important for them to adjust slowly." He also said that Elisabeth and her children who lived in the cellar have no concept of time and of the future. However, rumors that she has no teeth and cannot talk are not true.
Elisabeth's sister Gabriele Helm, 36, says she is surprised at how well her sister has endured the ordeal of being locked in a cellar with her children for 24 years.
"None of us can believe how normal Elisabeth seems. She is healthy and very chatty and doing very well. Every day she gets a bit stronger. I can't say what the family is going through. It's more than anyone can believe. It has devastated us."
"We are working together to support Elisabeth. She is overjoyed to see her children. She told them they were beautiful and she is spending all the time getting to know them."
Elisabeth tells her family that all she longs for is a normal life - or as normal a life as they can get. That's her only wish. One of her children, Felix, is keeping the family in good spirits says her lawyer: "They are all happy and there is a lot of laughter, which you might not expect. Felix makes everyone laugh. They are teaching him to run because inside the cellar he could not run. Elisabeth is really an impressive person. She is very strong. She's happy now for the first time."
Josef Fritzl,73, who imprisoned and raped his daughter for 24 years claims he is not a monster and blamed both Hitler and his mother for making him the way he is. He said he did not have sex with Elisabeth until she was older than 12, which is when she claims he first abused her. "I am not a man that has sex with little children."
"I knew that Elisabeth did not want it, what I did with her. The pressure to do the forbidden thing was just too big to withstand."
Fritzl would visit Elisabeth every few days, delivering food and repeatedly raping her. "It was an obsession with me," he said. Fritzl also described the amazing planning and secrecy behind his crime, admitting he had thought about it for years. Fritzl claimed he had kidnapped the teenage Elisabeth to "rescue" her from alcohol and bad company. He said he got into a "vicious circle":
"My situation just got more crazy. I was scared of being arrested, and that my family and everybody that knew me would know my crime … I always knew over 24 years what I did was not correct, and that I must be mad."
"I am not a monster," Fritzl said. "I could have killed all of them and no one would have known. No one would have ever found about it."
In a bizarre admission, Fritzl said he had incestuous feelings for his mother, whom he described as the greatest woman in the world. "She taught me discipline."
He went on to complain that the coverage of his daughter's abuse was one-sided. He remains in jail under tight security. His attorney said Fritzl was a "broken man" who belonged in a mental hospital rather than prison.
Reinhard Haller, a leading forensic psychiatrist in Austria, disagreed with claims that Fritzl was insane: "His main motivation was the exercise of power. It is not a sign of mental illness but rather of an extreme personality disorder."
And Fritzl may be in more trouble. The Austrian authorities have revealed that there are more rooms in the underground dungeon that have yet to be examined, which Fritzl is believed to have sealed off years ago. Fritzl has a history of sex crimes including a conviction for rape and attempted rape as well as being investigated for an unrelated murder, and now police fear the extra rooms may contain evidence of further crimes.
Police are set to break down walls in the cellar to get to the hidden rooms this week and plan to investigate the electrics and plumbing to ascertain whether Fritzl - an electrical engineer - could have built the dungeon, or whether he had help. They will also scan the ground surrounding the cellar to check if more rooms exist or if there are any objects buried in the garden. The dogs and radars being used can detect human body parts underground.
Meanwhile, the murky depths of Fritzl's mind are being examined by Austria's leading forensic psychiatrist, Dr Adelheid Kastner. Prosecutors want Dr Kastner, 46, to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
"I am conducting exploratory conversations to get to know every possible part of the defendant's personality. The court wants me to probe several questions and has given me a deadline. But if I need longer, then the court will have to wait" said Dr Kasner.
It remains a mystery as to how Fritzl managed to smuggle two beds underground unnoticed as well as a large washing machine and supplies for Elisabeth and the children.
Abuse, Amstetten, Austria, Child Abuse, Elisabeth Fritzl, Elizabeth Fritzl, Incest, Josef Fritzl, Kerstin Fritzl, Rape, Rosemarie Fritzl, Sexual Abuse in Our World, Scandals, news, sex
Reader Comments (14)
I think Elisabeth Fritzl is a heroine.
She is one becuase she survived, one of the worst crimes in human history. Rape, imprisonment, untold abuse by the very person who should have been her fiercest protector.
That she retained her sanity is admirable enough; that she became to her children, security and protection (what was denied her)is shocking!
In looking past herself and caring for those born out of such reprehensible lust, she epitomises the strength of a woman - and love always endures.
If I should have to categorise the most beautiful women in the world, Elisabeth would rank in the top five.
My sincere hope for her is that the laughter she managed to raise in her children will fill her heart and those around....that her remaining days be spent in the fresh air, under an open sky with the sun streaming down on her, surrounded by those who love and care. I wish to thank her for being an example of how to overcome the worst torture with a smile and bless another human being despite her well of grief. Incredible!
[...] Fritzl and Family say “Thanks” Elisabeth Fritzl and Family say “Thanks” Elisabeth Fritzl and Family say “Thanks” « SHADMIA’S WORLD __________________ *sniffing [...]
its really curious that he could do such a monstrous thing by himself...taking a 700 pound door to his cellar by himeself, not to mention beds, washing machines, a fridge...come on now, surely his wife knew of this atleast? she may have helped for all we know..it is to soon to say who is guily and who is not [besides the monster himself].
regardless, that man deserves some hardcore torture - lasting several years. then put to death..if there ever was a reason for a death penalty, he fits it.
Elizabeth Fritzl is a Superwoman. God Bless you Elizabeth and your Blessed Children. M.
Dear Elisabeth,
What happened to you should never have happened. What you acheaved is truely remakable. I with you all the happyness for the future.
Take care.
Rob Lippett
I could really not survive for a month under these conditions really. All who survived are real heros.
Dear Elisabeth,
For all your pain,for all the trials and hardships that life has dealt you,you will surely be rewarded.The grief,misery,anguish,hurt and injustice you have suffered has touched affected me tremendously and in my heart there will always be a prayer for you and your family.God bless you for you have undergone a terror no one could dream of.May the rest of your life be filled with joy and happiness. God Bless
Rosemarie Fritz how dare she write anything on that poster! What a lying WHORE WHORE WHORE. 3 of the children her daugter had lived upstairs with her. HOw was that explained? These babies popped out of thin AIR? She had a baby I think its quite possible she knows where they motherfucking come from. She and him should get the death sentance I truely mean that. That bitch should got to HELL ETERNALLY.
Elizabeth should have stabbed him to death or ran away sooner or told the teacher at 12 or some fucking shit.
Elisabeth,
You are for certain the Woman of the Century for all of Europe. I hope Europe and Austria realize this. You have crossed cultural lines and the whole world is witness and bow down to you in complete respect. God will be with you and your family forever. I guarantee you of this.
You showed to the world the power of the natural instincts of a mother. Please understand that there are MANY MANY more people in the whole world that respect you, care about you, love you and your children than those that are selfish or would harm you.
Joseph Fritzl;
You are a monster!!! You are the same age with my grandfather, but you seems a monster on my eyes. I know that you are a person who built that cellar. We should put you in a cellar, just like you did to your own daughter. We should put all the rats, crocodile, snakes,etc to eat you until you cannot move just like you put handcuff on Elisabeth. Then, cut your hand, your feet so you cannot move. If you were still a human, you should put your life into death.
Shame on you, monster Joseph Fritzl!!!!
Elisabeth,
I love you so much. I am a woman. I know how painful you have to get from you father. I am sorry, sorry, sorry and sorry for that bad things happen to you and your children. Wishing that you will get better and have a beautiful life with your children
Love you, Elisabeth and your children
I really want to sent you a letter. How can I do that?
Mrs. Elisabeth,
I thought that the heroes did not exist more , but when I have followed your history, account is rendered me that still exists and you are one of these , you are the woman more strong of the world I you admire to you so much and I will not never forget your history ,because from you I have learned not to never surrender to me , merits very many all the good of the world
I hope that you have all the one which you could not never have had ,an embrace to you and your sons YOU ARE FANTASTIC
:) ELISABETH FRITZL HERO OF AUSTRIA :)
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ELISABETH FRITZL AND CHILDREN FOR EVER IN OUR HEARTS
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elisabeth. you and your children are precious. believe with the good in you that overpowered you for 24 years that you and your children will actually be able to put what happened away so much so that you will experiece complete joy, for the rest of your lives. i love you all. i am so very, very, very sorry; so deeply moved by you and your children. i wish i could somehow be a friend to you all. i wish i could write you a letter. i wish to help if there's a way that i could. God, please give elisabeth emotional freedom; please give kerstin, stefan, and little felix, a deep understanding that they did nothing wrong, nothing whatsoever, to cause the first part of their lives to be so isolating, frightening, and abusive; please God, give them the solid sense that are Good and free them emotionally - connect them deeply to the understanding that they're good and will have good lives.