Police Niederoesterreich Josef Fritzl, a shrewd liar and an obsessive tyrant. image:39899:2::0

Put 'Fritzl' in the Digital Journal search box and you get seven results. The Amstetten, Austria horror drama which started 24 years ago was featured here six weeks ago and had got our eyeballs.

Elisabeth Fritzl was held captive by her father in a cellar and repeatedly raped for 24 long years. She bore seven children through that intense period of torture before being rescued.

And today, doctors say quite optimistically that Kerstin Fritzl, the 19-year-old daughter, the eldest fathered by the cellar monster Josef Fritzl and his captive daughter Elisabeth will make a full recovery.


Her hospitalization unlinked the chain of events which led to the rescue of Elisabeth Fritzl and her children from the cellar. The case came to light two months ago after Kerstin fell seriously ill and was brought to the hospital by Josef Fritzl. Kerstin, 19, who was placed into an artificial coma after she suffered cramping fits due to oxygen deficiency and kidney problems, opened her eyes on May 15. And now, she is taking her first steps literally and figuratively.

Today, Kerstin has been reunited with her family. On Sunday, she met the other members of her family.

Berthold Kepplinger, the director of the hospital summed it up,

” The reunion of Kerstin with her family a few days ago was a moving moment."

Her mother who regularly visited her has now shifted into a house on the hospital premises so that the family can stay together as they undergo treatment. They are receiving daily therapy here as well as schooling and other guidance to start preparing them for life in the outside world.

Berthold Kepplinger was upbeat about her recovery said that she could communicate well and also did not have any problems reading and writing. Dr Albert Reiter the doctor who treated Kerstin reiterated that she is making steady progress.

If hopes and dreams be a sign of recovery then it is good news because as Kerstin told her doctors about her wish for an ocean voyage and her desire to hear a Robbie Williams concert.

Though the family was rescued 24 years too late, this latest news is a welcome sign that human spirit can attempt to triumph against the most gruesome of odds.