Fritzl Watch: Josef Fritzl’s Hitler Youth, Running Of the Jews And Burgenland Bombs
FRITZL Watch: Anorak’s look at Josef Fritzl, Elisabeth Fritzl, Nazis and assorted Frtizls in the news
THE SUN (front page): “Dungeon kids are suffering like POWs”
Do mention the war.
DAILY RECORD: “JOSEF Fritzl’s cellar children are afraid of the colour blue, rustling leaves and noisy traffic after spending their entire lives underground.”
Zees are ein few of zeer (least) favourite things. Blue? Surely brown, black and feldgrau?
THE GUARDIAN: “How many more of our missing are stuck in some underground prison?”
There’s also the curious case of a town mayor poisoned by a praline filled with strychnine, and the case of Franz Fuchs, a neo-nazi who hid bombs in bilingual schools and blew up four Roma from the Burgenland region in 1995.
Initially, it might look as if there is no common basis to these cases, beyond the first two. But these crimes reveal much about Austrian society.
Just when you thought it vas safe to go into ze woods…
Austrians are worried that on their next holiday, someone might ask them if everyone in Austria has sex with relatives. They feel guilty - something they didn’t do after the last war nor after the Burgenland bombs.
THE INDEPENDENT: “Josef Fritzl: The making of a monster”
Fritzl was born in 1935 and would have been four years old at the start of the Second World War. It was not clear whether he lost his father during the war, but, when the war ended, he would, as a nine-year-old, have experienced first hand the invasion of Austria by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. Reports in the Austrian media have claimed that as a child he “suffered badly” during this post-war occupation which was notorious for the high incidence of rape perpetrated by Russian soldiers on civilian German and Austrian women.
The haus ist ein pill box:
However the back of the house which was extended out to include Fritzl’s notorious cellar, looks not unlike the kind of massive Second World War above-ground bunkers that were built by the Nazis to withstand air raids.
DAILY TELEGRPAH – Simon Heffer: “What else does Austria have up its sleeve?”
Or on them?
I don’t want to get into the habit of attacking our continental partners - I was, of course, pained to read in our letters column the complaint of the Italian ambassador about my calling his banana republic of a country a banana republic - but I do feel compelled to ask one question in particular this week: what is it with the Austrians?
Yeah, what is it with Austrians?
We had just about come to terms with the fact that this one little nation produced, in short order, Adolf Hitler, Kurt Waldheim, and The Sound of Music, and seems still - 63 years after they cleaned out the ovens of Auschwitz - to have anti-semitism as one of its national sports.
Like Kazakhstan, but with ruddier cheeks, felt hats and cellars.
Now a barbarian of Hitlerian proportions locks up his daughter in a cellar, fathers seven children by her, and (in a peculiarly Nazi touch) threatens to gas any who try to escape: this coming a year after another girl was found after being locked in another cellar for six years. What else are they hiding underground? Is Hitler really dead?
NEW YORK TIMES: “Dungeons & Austrians”
While the world at large (or at least the world’s press) is endeavoring to identify which peculiarly Austrian traits made the Josef Fritzl case possible, Viennese acquaintances of mine are busily discussing the case in regional terms, as a specifically Lower Austrian species of nightmare. At this very moment, no doubt, the residents of Ludwigsdorf, the next town over to Amstetten, are comforting themselves with the fact that such a crime has never happened there, and they’re perfectly right.
Not yet, at least. Not as far as anybody knows.
Austria calling…
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
What are these journalists on?
Do people actually buy / read or believe any of this tosh?
If I thnk hard enough I could name a few evil Englishmen, and american men, oh and french men, mmm also the odd chinese one…
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 am
Is this British humour or what?
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
“a town mayor poisoned by a praline filled with strychnine”
that’s Austria’s chocolate box scenery.
Captain von Trapp had 7 children and was in the Austrian navy (?). Evil stuff but not one tabloid reference to Edelweiss, strudl or lederhosen - how is this so?
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Not humour at all, a bad case of NIMBY and xenophobia
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Gosh, I see the Sun is as accurate as ever in its reporting:
‘TWO traumatised cellar children of incest fiend Josef Fritzl have symptoms of confinement last seen in WWII prisoners, a nurse revealed yesterday.’
Really?
The first in over 60 years?
..”Specialists who worked with PoWs say the pair have classic post-traumatic stress symptoms.”
Those specialists must be pretty old, mustn’t they?
What with it being over 60 years since they last treated patients with these symptoms.
And not very specialist, what with them not treating any one with these symptoms for over 60 years.
It occurs to me that the most probable explanation of these bizarre claims is that the Sun made it up…
M and A
Chenier,
Its possible the Sun means they have all these rare disorders because, wait for it, bated breath, don’t rush….they haven’t seen the Sun?
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
M and A
Chenier,
Its possible the Sun means they have all these rare disorders because, wait for it, bated breath, don’t rush….they haven’t seen the Sun?
—————————————–
Could be, could be…
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
every nation has its share of nightmares, Philippines of its corruption, America of being a tyrant to all other nations, and well Austria - the land i wanted to visit - because of their dungeons and incestous relationships..
oh well, just a nation having a very bad day like all others.
but really - - - how can a police miss out on the facts when a girl tries to run away from home - TWICE!??!!
only in Austria - and in France
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
But probably not…
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
You are right, Austria might be a bizzarre place. (mayor attacked by strychnin, fritzl, kampusch…). Austria just might a lot more cellars…
And Britain… Are you sure you can look after your kids
May 3rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Well, some of us can…
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
9
Missis_USA
Yes, all safely locked away………………………………….. downstairs
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
9
Missis_USA Says:
You are right, Austria might be a bizzarre place. (mayor attacked by strychnin, fritzl, kampusch…). Austria just might a lot more cellars…
And Britain… Are you sure you can look after your kids
—————
I admit that we are a bizarre place - even if we didn’t have Fritzl, Priklopil, strychnin-attackers etc.
Would you admit that the USA are a little “bizarre”, too, or do you find bizzarness only in other countries?
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
12
BabyJane Says:
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
9
Missis_USA Says:
You are right, Austria might be a bizzarre place. (mayor attacked by strychnin, fritzl, kampusch…). Austria just might a lot more cellars…
And Britain… Are you sure you can look after your kids
—————
I admit that we are a bizarre place - even if we didn’t have Fritzl, Priklopil, strychnin-attackers etc.
Would you admit that the USA are a little “bizarre”, too, or do you find bizzarness only in other countries?
—————
I have to admit that I am very Austrian. My husband and my kids are British, American and Austrian… A taste of some different cultures at least.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Oh, I see! Nice to meet another biszzare Austrian here, then!
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Hitler wouldn’t approve of incest - the man believed in Eugenics…
May 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Hitler may have had an affair with his niece, it certainly sounds as if he was madly in love with her
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geli_Raubal
May 4th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I never like the eugenics. That Annie Lennox got right up my nose.
May 4th, 2008 at 1:32 am
This is crazy stuff. The way the articles are written is odd, as if the whole event is simply a zany occurance, and another embarassing case for “bizarre” austria.
My question, and the one they haven’t seemed to ask that sick old man yet, is how did she give birth to 7 children all by herself in a basement with no medical help, or painkillers?
And what about his wife? Is it really possible for her not to figure out something was up? She must have been in on it a little, if not totally. It’s just not possible that he could hide that for so long.
May 4th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
You have to admit, the only advantage of being held captive would be not having to read the Sun.
M and A
But even so, one does get Sundays off.
Welcome to Anorak, have you taken the pills?
May 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
But what about 3 children who was living with Fritzl and his wife. How did they adopt children? Or in Austria does it not matter where you have found children. What Fritzl said to his wife about these children? Where did he took them? When he was on vocation who did give a food food to his daughter? Why his daughter never try to run away from this prison?
May 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/1924847/Wall-of-silence-hid-Josef-Fritzl%27s-crimes.html
This article confirms that people did know, whether its truth or conjecture remains to be seen
May 4th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I do NOt believe her mother knew nothing about it.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
this is a very bad article. This painful destiny of Elisabeth Fritzl and her children has NOTHING to do with Nazi-crap. How can you say something like “Yeah, what is it with Austrians?” ? How can you lump together all people of a nation with Josef Fritzl? This article is a good example for brainwashing of the people and a defamation for all Austrians.
relaw1019
May 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
This corner of the world , southeastern Europe,the remnants and the center of the old Habsburg empire is unique. It gave us the dracula ,the impeller and vampirism. It gave us the first world war and the infamous mustard gas.It gave us Adolf Hitler,pan germanic xenophobism,the second world war and its unspeakable horrors and the hlolcaust.What is in the air or the soil that breeds such conditions?Rabid hatred, brutal control and depraved dominance?The legacy of unquestioned absolute authority,with its philosophy:”I see nothing,I hear nothing, I say nothing”allows any crackpot to flourish.Otherwise how could this criminal monster, Fritzl ,perpetrate such henious crimes over 24 years in the 21st century in plain sight, something perhaps, normal during the Nazi era, without any suspicion?Remember ,no one saw ,heard or smelt anything during the round ups and gassing.If Fritzl is an upstanding citizen, who then is abnormal in Austria ?This can happen anywhere but three in a roll in a short time in Austria?It always takes one person to start something crazy if the rest of the citizenry fails to act.Where were the neighbors, the authorities, the churches?
May 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
15 years is the max punishment for this? And sex crimes are expunged from the record after 4 years? Wow, Austria just loves its pedophiles, doesn’t it. Wonder how many other situations like this exist that we don’t know about. Probably lots.
Mods and Admin
This is not paedophilia as such, it is rape and incest, and holding a woman captive, denying her all her rights, forcing children on herand denying her aid at the births. There is the murder of a baby to consider. All these crimes will be taken into account
May 9th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Yeah, what is it with Austrians?
You follow the news about how Austrian police conduct this crime thoroughly,. You wil find the police(Polzer ) defending Fritzls in a subtle manner. A few reasons and suspicions
1. They(The Austrian) police have never done their work properly
2.There are more cases happening in the higher levels of society(Powerful Politicians etc…) trying to cover up their own little(read BIG) crimes. This forces laws to remain unchanged , undue pressure on plice not to investigate too much????
May 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Figures,it is paedophilia too,because this sicko sexually abused Elizabeth since the age of 11.