Apr 29, 2008, 11:55 GMT
Amstetten, Austria - All Austria is asking the same question.
An Austrian police handout picture made available on 28 April 2008 showing a room of the cellar in which 73-year-old Josef F. is believed to have held his 42-year-old daughter captive for 24 years following Josef F.'s detention in Amstetten, Austria on 27 April 2008. EPA/AUSTRIAN POLICE/HANDOUT
Could 73-year-old Josef Fritzl really have deceived his family, officials, police, social workers and the rest of town for 24 years?
Or - is there something a lot worse at work in the country, a culture of 'looking away', official neglect and bungling authorities?
What went on in Amstetten's 'house of horrors' - where Fritzl kept his daughter Elisabeth, 42, imprisoned in a dungeon basement for 24 years, hurt, raped and fathered seven children with her - is not the first shocking abuse crime in a country which prides itself of its beautiful landscape and friendly locals.
There was, first and foremost, the headline-grabbing case of Natascha Kampusch, 20, who escaped her kidnapper in 2006 after eight years in captivity in a basement dungeon. Possible mistakes in the police search and alleged cover-up attempts are now centre of a major politcal scandal.
But there were others - a mother who locked her daughters in the house for years, and, in the 1990s, the case of Maria, a girl who was kept in a wooden box by her parents.
Austria, it seems, has a problem.
'Why did nobody ask more questions? How could this guy say that there are three children at his doorstep, and the daughter has vanished?' asked Herrmann, a retired local chimney sweep who came to have a look at the Fritzl house.
His questions sum up those posed not only by the shocked and perplexed Amstettners but also by the international media descending on the town.
Josef Fritzl claimed three of the children he took from imprisoned Elisabeth were left on his doorstep by his 'errant' daughter.
He reported her missing in 1984, having locked her in the basement, which was off-limits to his wife and his other six children.
Letters he forced Elisabeth to write hinted at involvment in some obscure religious sect - claims local authorities believed only too readily, leaving the children in the grandparents' loving care.
Local officials deny any wrongdoing. The paperwork for the three children was in order, the district head stressed, visits by social workers showed a blameless family life. 'He deceived everyone,' Franz Prucher, police chief of the province, said.
Fritzl led a 'perfect double life' authorities said, indicating that they, too, had been duped by the man who has been described as a tyrannical patriarch by neighbours.
No one seemed to wonder how a woman who vanished without a trace could still deposit children at her father's doorstep without anyone noticing.
And neither family nor neighbours apparently noticed that Fritzl was lugging in food and clothing for up to four additional people in the house.
In the investigation into the disappearance of Elisabeth, who said she was abused by her father since aged 11, the father was apparently never a suspect.
'It's like with that Kampusch girl. Nobody is responsible,' one neighbour said, venting anger over the authorities' avoiding any responsibility for the tragedy.
'After this case it will be impossible to carry on with business as usual,' wrote Petra Stuiber, a commentator in the liberal daily Der Standard. 'An entire nation must ask itself what is going fundamentally wrong.'
View blog reactions
If you liked this story please support M&C and Buzz the site on Yahoo.
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)
Advertising
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)