The children of Josef Fritzl 5 years later

This story gained worldwide attention five years ago, and I told the family’s life of  hell here.  But how has life changed for all of the children, and the rest of the family, since their father, Josef has been in prison?  Well, 5 years ago, the story came to a head, when Dr Albert Reiter was asked to examine a young woman  brought into the hospital intensive care ward in Amstetten, Austria.

She was a teenager but she resembled a wizened old woman – bleeding gums,  missing teeth, skin so white he later remarked that he needed sunglasses to  look at it. The patient was 19-year-old Kerstin Fritzl, who, until she was carried  unconscious into the hospital, had never spent a second outside the stinking  underground dungeon that her father, Josef Fritzl, had made her home.  This girl was the first of 7 children born for the incest of Josef and his daughter Elizabeth.

Right now, Elizabeth, and her 6 surviving children live in a secluded village in Austria away from the media.  Josef is in prison for the rest of his life for the heinous crimes he committed, which included murdering one of the children, and disposing of the body.

Today, the Fritzls have all been given new identities as authorities make up for the failure to protect the family.  The children who had lived all their lives underground.  In the new house they were reunited with Monika, now 19, Lisa, 20, and  Alexander, 16, who had all lived upstairs in the main house with Fritzl and  Rosemarie.

One of the carers who helped in the writing of Monster said: “Initially there  was conflict between the cellar children and the upstairs family raised by  their grandparents.

“The day the upstairs children started calling Elisabeth ‘Mama’ was the day  she knew she had won their hearts.”

the sun.co.uk

Kerstin loves music and clothes,  has a boyfriend and spends her days with  a private tutor who teaches her and Stefan.  Her brother Stefen dreams of becoming a ship’s captain,  seeing a world that just a few short years ago was confined to a single,  stinking room.

Felix has since virtually forgotten his time in the cellar. He attends a local  school, among children who know nothing of his terrible past.

Monika is preparing to go to university next year, Lisa is working on  finishing her high school exams and Alexander wants to become a mechanical  engineering apprentice.

As for mother Elizabeth, was given the house, worth £680,000, by the state, a £50,000 lump  sum and a pension in the region of £3,400 a month.  She has had many offers to write of her ordeal, which is worth millions, but has refused, saying she wants peace for her family.

Now Josef Fritzl, is imprisoned for life, and as prisoner 4546765 sits alone in his cell, staring at shopping channels  on TV. Occasionally the door rattles when a passing con hits it and shouts  an insult.  He is slowly slipping into the world of dementia.  Back in 2009, after he was first jailed, he dreamed of getting his family back  on his side. For a year he bombarded Elisabeth with pathetic letters, sent  via his lawyer, asking for sympathy, understanding… and even money.

Fritzl even tried dissuading his wife Rosemarie from divorcing him, but  failed. Also using his lawyers, the property developer with a  multimillion-pound empire audaciously tried to obtain planning permission  for a dozen or so flats, an underground garage and an office block on land  he bought before he was brought to justice.

It was at first approved, then banned.

As for Rosemary, Fritzl’s ex wife, the crime proved to be so disturbing, she would sit in the dungeon her husband built, and cry for days.  She too was a victim of this tragedy, as she believed her husband’s lies.  Her former husband’s multimillion-pound property empire was seized by the  state and she received nothing from it. She was upset that she couldn’t even  take any furniture from the family home.  All was impounded to pay off her husband’s debts.

As for the reconciliation with Elizabeth, it’s a slow process.  Rosemary now  74, visits the family once a week and is adored by all the  children, who know that whatever else she may have been, she was no willing  conspirator with Fritzl but, like them, a bullied victim.

It’s so hard to believe that one human could inflict so much pain and damage, isn’t it?

• Posted in: Crime & Punishment ♦ Current Events ♦ World News
• Tagged: 7 children with daughter Elizabeth, family update, Josef Fritzl