House of Horrors

by Nigel Cawthorne

  Herbst also complained of misreporting and said that huge strides had been made since the family first emerged. ‘There are a lot of things that have been reported badly or wrongly. I mean, first, the children speak normal German; they communicate as anybody does; they walk as anybody does. And also what has been reported about Elisabeth … I mean, she is a normal-looking woman, a very attractive person, if you meet her and see her. You know, the most important point right now is that she has the feeling that the kids are happy, that they feel comfortable and that gives her the best relief.’

  Since Elisabeth Fritzl was imprisoned 24 years ago much has changed, but she still retains a basic knowledge of the world that she can build on. ‘Elisabeth, let’s say, is let back out into a world she once knew and which she can remember and which has been reflected on television,’ said Professor Friedrich of Vienna University. ‘The others, the children, will be let out and will have to be taught how to live. And those senses that weren’t stimulated downstairs will have to be stimulated. For example, rain makes a swishing sound. You can hear how the wind rustles the leaves in the trees. And when you go for a walk in the woods on a rainy day, the earth gives off a certain scent. So all sorts of completely new sensations hit you.’

  Christoph Herbst has witnessed this with his own eyes. ‘Some days ago it rained and Felix said, “I want to see for the first time rain because I have never experienced that,”’ he recalled. ‘If you hear that you realise, yes, he didn’t see that before. So I think he still has a lot of things to experience.’

  Life was also difficult for the three other children, who were living upstairs, because they now had to live in semi-darkness with their mother and brothers at the clinic.

  However, they were coping well. ‘They are all happy and there is a lot of laughter, which you might not expect,’ said Herbst. ‘Felix makes everyone laugh. They are teaching him to run because inside the cellar he could not run. It is really brilliant how Elisabeth has reacted to the outside world. They are all rather fine. Elisabeth is really an impressive person; she is very strong.’

  Elisabeth had also been visited by local priest Peter Boesendorfer, who was impressed with her progress. ‘Elisabeth is seeking out staff to speak to in the hospital,’ he said. ‘It is a good sign that she is looking to chat to new people. No one can believe how normal she appears, but I suspect it hasn’t really hit her yet.’

  However, Rosemarie was not coping so well. It was hard for her to take in the enormity of what had happened. Up to this point, she had been unable to speak, formally, to the police. As a loving mother and grandmother, it was impossible for her not to be affected by their suffering.

  And there is another burden that she must bear; although she had been officially exonerated, people were still asking how it could be possible that she did not know what her husband had been up to all those years – a question that she must have asked herself many, many times. With the benefit of hindsight, she must have realised that there were a hundred telltale signs that she could have followed up on, had she not been so intimidated by Fritzl.

  However ‘healing’ the immediate post-release period appears to have been for the family, some doubt the sense in putting mother and daughter back together again. ‘I have the impression that the doctors and therapists are reviving a family system that has proven to be damaging for Elisabeth Fritzl in the past,’ said Helene Klaar, a Vienna lawyer specialising in family law. ‘It is difficult to understand why Elisabeth Fritzl must now live with her mother, the same woman who never helped her as she was abused by her father.’

  As the first few weeks of freedom ticked by, Elisabeth was desperately worried about Kerstin, who was then still critically ill in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Her condition had stabilised but doctors were waiting to discover the effect of total organ failure on her brain and, after a month-and-a-half, it was reported that they were slowly beginning to bring her round from the coma by gradually reducing the dosage of the drugs used to keep her in an artificial sleep.

  A hospital spokesman said, ‘The doctors are very optimistic about the future development but, at this stage, it is impossible to say how long it will take before she actually wakes up.’

  Otherwise, Elisabeth was preoccupied with the day-to-day business of raising her family.

  ‘Doctors are controlling the family’s treatment,’ a clinic source said. ‘But Elisabeth is the figurehead who gets them together for three square meals a day. She had the kids in a routine during their time in the cellar and she won’t let that go. There’s actually a lot of laughing and joking.’

  For the first few weeks, the family spent much of their time watching Disney DVDs together and reading letters of support from around the world. Even though they had emerged from the dungeon weeks before, Elisabeth and her youngest son Felix still had to wear dark glasses because their eyes were so sensitive to light. However, one source said, ‘Their skin is getting better and getting darker and they’re growing accustomed to the light.’

  Elisabeth still had to calm the boys, who both suffered panic attacks sparked by the grim memories of their long incarceration and years of being starved of oxygen. They also suffered from ringworm, a fungal skin condition caused by living in dank conditions.

  Felix was progressing well, because of his youth. He learnt to run about freely inside the sprawling hospital complex. The staff were delighted to spend time with him because, for Felix, everything was new and exciting. ‘They are teaching him to run,’ said Christoph Herbst. ‘He delights in every new discovery. This week, he saw rain for the first time. He was fascinated by it. Elisabeth is really happy in the pleasure he has in his new freedom. All she wants is for the family to heal and grow together.’

  But Stefan was struggling to cope. After 18 years in a cramped cellar, he was left battling motor-skill difficulties. In the outside world, he encountered problems with coordination. It was suspected that he was suffering from serious motor neurone problems and has difficulty in moving as a result.

  Psychologically, he was having difficulties, too. He would choose to sit by his fish tank all day in the family’s darkened quarters inside the hospital – much as he did in the cellar.

  Despite claims from the clinic that the family were interacting well and recovering faster than expected, experts have voiced fears that the decision to place all family members together may not necessarily turn out to be the best solution in the long term. ‘Placing the family together can only be the very first step, until the beginning of the process of dealing with the conflicts within the family,’ said Eva Mueckstein, the president of the Austrian Association of Psychotherapists. There were bound to be conflicts between children brought up above ground, who led a relatively normal life, excelling at school and playing musical instruments, and their siblings who lived in the dungeon and who were only starting to adapt to the outside world. The upstairs children were now receiving private tuition, but were finding life locked away in the hospital frustrating.

  ‘It is very difficult right now for Alex, Lisa and Monika, who lived together with their grandma upstairs,’ said Christoph Herbst. ‘They cannot see their friends; they cannot meet their classmates. They even miss school. And this is something that is very hard for them. They are just asking when can they meet them again, when can they go to school again. And we all hope this will happen pretty soon because they have to have their normal life again.’

  For the moment, though, they were being strong. ‘Lisa, Monika and Alexander are keen to see their friends again,’ said a visitor. ‘They are being as positive as possible, but it’s been very hard for them to adapt to life inside. Despite their joy at being with Elisabeth and the rest of their family, it’s almost like they are now in a prison themselves. They are being very good but it’s tough.’

  The upstairs children handed their mobile phones in when they first arrived at the clinic and have not spoken to anyone outside since. The plan was to send them back into the outside world in S
eptember, but it still had to be decided whether they would return to their old schools or begin afresh elsewhere. The family lawyer, Christoph Herbst, has looked into the possibility of providing them with new identities to allow them to get on with their lives. There were also rumours that they planned to relocate to a nearby country – even England was mentioned – to get away from anyone who knew them so that they could live life in relative anonymity.

  But it has also been pointed out that rifts could well become acute between the upstairs and downstairs children who have had to cope with vastly different pressures and upbringings. Several psychologists pointed out that the above-ground ‘foundlings’ are well educated, sophisticated and sociable, while those from the cellar have yet to learn even the most basic life skills, such as crossing the road, using the telephone or buying something in a shop.

  Dr Kepplinger defended the treatment of the children in the clinic. He said that each member of the Fritzl family was receiving a treatment that had been tailored to their individual needs. ‘The team of therapists is trying to adapt to the special needs of individual family members but I would like to emphasise once more that the family will need a lot of time.’

  The rambling, wooded grounds of the Landesklinikum psychiatric hospital in Amstetten-Mauer were to be the setting for Elisabeth, Stefan and Felix’s introduction to the world. When doctors believed they could cope with the kaleidoscope of colours they had only seen previously on TV, they were let out of the darkened clinic and finally emerged into the light. Dr Kepplinger had given his consent to the expedition after closely monitoring them. Their first steps into the outside world were in a secret garden protected by dense foliage. The doctors let Elisabeth and the two boys spend some time outdoors, walking around in daylight as part of their tentative steps towards recovery.

  ‘The light sensitivity has almost disappeared,’ said a source in the clinic. ‘None of them are wearing goggles now – they are ready for daylight.’

  The two boys were amazed at the world they saw around them. They marvelled at the sunshine, woodland and fish in the pond. It soon became a daily routine for Elisabeth to go out for walks with Stefan and Felix. But despite the evident progress they were making, the doctors decided that the Fritzls would not be ready to return home any time soon.

  ‘What is now clear is that the family will need to remain here for several more months,’ said the clinic head Dr Kepplinger. ‘To give them a good start in their new life, they all need to be very carefully protected and very slowly reintroduced to the real world, and to each other. In particular, Elisabeth and her two children from the cellar need to have further therapy to help them adjust to the light after years in semi-darkness. They also needed treatment to help them cope with all the extra space that they now have in which to move about.’

  However, their forays into the outside world soon caused problems because of the intense media interest in the family. Since they had been released from the dungeon, the clinic had been besieged by journalists and TV crews all hoping to catch a glimpse of them.

  Dr Kepplinger complained that the family was unable to walk freely outside because of the huge number of journalists who had descended on Amstetten from all over the world. In effect, he said, the Fritzl children had been ‘imprisoned for the second time’ following their trauma in the cellar. During the first week, the hospital management complained that 22 paparazzi had to be escorted from the premises after sneaking into the clinic to try and get exclusive pictures of the Fritzls. Since then, it had been necessary to call in an élite police force, police dogs, and local volunteer firefighters, as well as a private security firm to guard the hospital.

  Some of the photographers had even constructed birdwatcher’s hides. ‘The paparazzi dig holes in the ground, cover them with aluminium foil to fool infra-red detectors, then hide in them with their cameras, covered in army camouflage blankets,’ said hospital security chief Richard Riegler. ‘Until now, we’ve caught all of them but I don’t know how long this will last.’

  Photographers from around the world camped outside the clinic hoping to snatch the first pictures of the Fritzl family then in residence. The asking price for a picture of the unseen Elisabeth Fritzl rose to $1 million, according to Austrian media, and the paparazzi became desperate to claim the prize.

  ‘The greed of some reporters clearly knows no bounds,’ said District Governor Hans-Heinz Lenze.

  One night, a photographer managed to climb the 19th-century façade of the clinic to reach the third-floor balcony next to the rooms where the family were being kept, but the screams of a nurse alerted security officers who apprehended the man after a short struggle. During the altercation, one of the security officers fell from the balcony and was injured.

  Another paparazzo tried to take pictures of the Fritzl family through the clinic fence as they played in the garden. He was chased away by a security guard, but the photographer then hid behind a tree and, when the guard caught up with him, hit him across the neck and shoulders with a stick. The 30-year-old guard was knocked out and sent to hospital with minor injuries but the photographer escaped.

  Starved of news, speculation took over. According to Österreich, doctors hid the Fritzl kids in groups of other children so they could go out in the open. The newspaper also claimed their mother Elisabeth had been disguised as a nurse so that she could have a walk outside unnoticed.

  ‘Otherwise they cannot go outside because there are so many paparazzi who want to take photographs,’ said Christoph Herbst. ‘This is something that imposes on them again, the feeling of being captured.’ Dr Kepplinger then issued an urgent plea to the media to stop staking out the clinic and to leave his patients in peace. ‘The family needs time now,’ he said. ‘They clearly have no desire for publicity and have a right to privacy after the terrible ordeal they have gone through.’

  Amstetten’s District Governor Hans-Heinz Lenze rode to the rescue again. He said he had instructed police to take down the personal details of all photographers caught trying to get into the clinic and, where possible, to make a complaint to the relevant press regulation bodies. Lenze said British photographers were being singled out because they were the main perpetrators, although journalists from other countries have also been stopped from trying to gain entry to the clinic. He added that he was looking into making a formal complaint about the activities of UK photo-journalists to the Press Complaints Commission.

  ‘We have been in touch with the Press Complaints Commission, who have said they can accept complaints about British journalists operating abroad,’ said Lenze, ‘and that sneaking into hospital dressed as cleaners or policemen would definitely fit in their remit. From now on, names will be passed on as soon as we have them.’

  However, publicity did bring its benefits. Along with the cards and letters, well-wishers have sent piles of gifts. One of them sent Felix a scooter which he quickly learnt to ride.

  ‘Felix loves his new scooter the most,’ said a hospital source, ‘and is endlessly spending time whizzing around the grounds.’

  He was also taken to McDonald’s by his carers. Hospital staff said that Felix was thrilled to travel the three miles to visit the restaurant where he enjoyed a Happy Meal. ‘He loved it,’ a source said.

  Although he had seen their ads on television, Felix did not believe McDonald’s really existed. To manage his expectations in the cellar, he had been told that the burger chain was fiction. His secret trip to sample a burger and fries was the five-year-old’s first outing from the psychiatric clinic since he had been freed from the dungeon. He was accompanied by nurses and wore sunglasses to protect his eyes from daylight.

  ‘Felix is loving his freedom,’ said a hospital source. ‘He’s made so much progress since he arrived at the clinic three weeks ago. He loved going to McDonald’s but is also fascinated by cars and loves going out in them.’

  His above-ground siblings Alexander, Monika and Lisa joined him on the outing. They were also said to have been m
aking signs of ‘real progress’. At that time, Stefan had yet to leave the clinic and it was thought that it would take some time before he was up to it.

  Elisabeth was visited in hospital by her big brother, Harald, who tried to comfort her. He had left home when his sister vanished, after falling for his father’s lie that she had joined a religious cult. Her closest sibling, Harald has been left guilt-ridden and shattered.

  Elisabeth’s younger sister, Gabriele Helm, now in her late thirties, broke down when she met her sister and joined the rest of the family in therapy to cope with the shock. ‘None of us can believe how normal Elisabeth seems,’ said Gabriele. ‘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 is 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.’

  Her husband Juergen Helm was equally shocked by what had happened. ‘I have lived in the house for three years and have been in the cellar at least once,’ he said. ‘It was scattered with junk and I had no idea this family was living a few metres away. It’s incredible.’

  Family friend Elfriede Hoera said she now hoped the family would be able to rally round in a desperate attempt to rebuild their shattered lives. She put her faith in older sister Ulrike to pull them together. ‘Ulrike is the strong one,’ Elfriede said. ‘She stood up to Fritzl as a child and I believe she will help pull everyone through.’

  However, sources close to the family said, shockingly, that Elisabeth still loved her father in what may be a version of the Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages come to identify with their captors. While Elisabeth has vowed that she will never again come face to face with the monster who raped and abused her for years, like it or not, he is still her father.