Daily we are bombarded by news of horrible events. Technology provides continuous fodder for our curiosity, and many of us are both drawn to and repelled by what is presented on our computer or plasma screens.
Josef Fritzl, his wife Rosemarie, and their daughter Elizabeth are at the center of a much publicized news story from Austria. Josef kept his daughter locked up in the basement of their apartment building for 24 years, using her as a sex slave — she mothered seven of his children. She was eighteen when her captivity began.
There are volumes being written on this story every day, but it seemed relevant to try to identify just what motivated him. At the moment, he is getting a psychological thrill from having his picture and information about himself appear on every major newspaper and news source around the world. He takes tremendous pleasure in his infamy.
Josef is a sadist. Sadists enjoy and live to inflict pain on others; seeing victims suffer is sexually arousing for them. It is also about control of the victim. Dr. Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist, describes sadists as "bad, not mad." Fritzl is in no way psychotic or crazy. He knew exactly what he was doing and his acts were premeditated. He is not sorry and he cannot be rehabilitated.
Sadism almost always begins in childhood and adolescence. Those who torture helpless animals are at high risk to become sadists. Viewing violent pornography (snuff films) has also been linked to this disorder. Sadistic behaviors are chronic and increase in severity as time passes. When the sadist is humiliating, dominating, controlling, or inflicting pain on someone, he experiences a rush of those "feel-good" brain chemicals called endorphins.
According to reports released by the police, Josef had been sexually abusing Elizabeth since she was eleven. Sexual abuse does not happen in a vacuum, nor is it a solitary event — the signs are often myriad and obvious. So where was her mother?
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - susan winkershas
Ms Mitchell makes a very valid point: that Any mother would certainly investigate the reason a daughter would run away. Rosemarie Fritzl, although certainly a victim of her husband's sadism and tyranny, had to have suspected, indeed-have known - of her husband's abuse of their daughter.
2 - Sam weaver
Dr. Mitchell, I think the mother knows more than what she has said or the authorities are withholding additional information until such time they deem it necessary to report. I also believe that there were a few other outside collaborators that colluded to aid the sadistic husband in keeping his daughter captive. I noticed that you wrote two books on sexual abuse. Do you think that there are other families with situations like this.
3 - Juliann Mitchell
Susan thank you so much for commenting. The mother was both victimized by her husband, Josef and victimizer towards her daughter, Elizabeth by not intervening in any way to protect her.
4 - Cindy
I, like Dr. Mitchell, also feel Josef Fritzl is proud of his accomplishments. He did say that one day his house would go down in history, according to a recent article. This is pride - not because he has some magnificant house, but because of what he was able to get away with for over thirty years. Make no mistake that his recent worries and regrets have more to do with portraying insanity for the benefit of an imprudent legal system than for any soul-searching. This cold, unfeeling, shell of a human most likely grew tired of Elizabeth, and used Kirstin as well. But, since Kirstin has lost teeth and her body is reflecting a lifetime of malnourishment and lack of vitamins, I'm betting Josef Fritzl was looking to the girls upstairs to start anew. I would not be surprised if it was revealed that the granddaughters upstairs were molested or raped, and I would not be surprised if I found out that Rosemarie Fritzl, the mother, has known. In fact, I am betting that in this family, several members probably knew Josef molested his daughter/s. Perhaps rather than worrying about the loss of tourism, Austria should worry about this family and the hell they will go through once the novelty of being free sets in.
5 - Juliann Mitchell
Sam I appreciate your comments. You indeed may be correct about Josef having help in sustaining and maintaining the dungeon in the basement of the apartment building. I read one report that surmised that he did have some assistance. Nothing Josef did would surprise me. He certainly is not the only sadist in Austria. I have worked with some severe cases of abuse but never anything to this extent. It is truly heartbreaking what Elizabeth and her children suffered.
6 - Christine
What i want to know is why no one ever went into the basement cellar when he was on vacation by himself. Weren't they ever curious what he did down there besides machine planning. I'd be curious.
7 - Juliann Mitchell
Cindy, thank you so much for your insights, you wrote so eloquently. I, too, wondered if Josef was abusing the children upstairs. It seems he had his own sadistic playground right at home. He suppposedly had been convicted of rape in 1967 and was in jail for about eighteen months. Rosemarie stayed with him even though he was a convicted sexual predator. I am curious about Elizabeth's siblings, were they abused also? I have worked with some families where the father abused the daughters and then the grandaughters. It would seem logical that the mothers who were abused would want to protect their daughters from the familial abuser but that doesnt always happen. Sometimes it does but often the molester works his way through two generations. I wonder if Rosemarie was abused as a child and also if Josef was an abuse survivor? If they were it does not excuse their behaviors but it would fit. As for Austria, for whatever reasons, they have produced some people who have committed heinous atrocious acts of inhumanity. Hitler was Austrian and he killed 11 million people.
8 - Juliann Mitchell
Christine I think you make a really valid point--about no one visiting the basement. I read in one report that Josef used to go to the basement and stay all night. I also saw an interview with one of his tenants who had lived above the basement. He admitted that he had heard clanging and banging sometimes but Josef explained it all away. I find it odd that someone,sometime did not go down to the basement. He also had to take food, clothing, etc. to his captives. Where was everyone in the apartment building when he was carrying in supplies, etc? I suspect, as Sam has conjectured that Josef had some help although it is pure speculation at this point.
9 - Joe
Dear Dr Mitchell. Thank you for your insight. I, like many people around the world, am saddened by this inhumanity that exists. However, there is so much publicity surrounding events like this, that it lends notoriety to perverted beings. All it does is then set the next pervert to outdo the previous.
I think it is time that government officials take the hard line stance that once convicted, corporal punishment is demonstrated to these sadistic individuals that fit the crime.
As you correctly state, he was completely aware of what he was doing and premeditated these unfortunate and tragic event that has ruined the life of innocent people forever. He really must be made to suffer which will send a clear message to these ghastly individuals that these acts will not be tolerated. This pussy footing around has to stop. We create this environment to continue with our inaction against these individuals.
Thank you.
10 - Juliann Mitchell
Joe, I appreciate your taking the time to both read and comment on my article. I couldnt agree with you more, the perverts do thrive on the notoriety that they receive. A couple of the reports that I read stated Josef would most likely receive a prison term of ten to fifteen years. How is that possible? He stole Elizabeth's soul and broke her spirit as well as those of her children. He would be incarcerated for much less time than he raped and tortured her?Yes, you are also so on target, we do create the societies that allow these sexual predators to thrive and stay alive.
11 - Marlene
Thank you for this article. I've been following the news write ups of this case and am appalled at how accepting the authorities, media and public seem in regards to Rosemarie's complete innocense. I felt you gave an honest assessment. Her husband was a predator and a pervert and many mothers are relieved when these men leave them alone for their daughters. If anyone would have known that something sinister had happened it would have been her (or the older girls) and their silence for 25 years is deafeningly unforgiveable.
12 - Isabelle
To me it is impossible that Elizabeth's mother Rosemarie didn't know anything about her husband's behavior, she just don't want to be bothered by the media thats why she's playing dumb, and also I believe this brutal creature had compliances to help him doing this horroble situation for 24 years , him by himself it would be impossible to manage all of this.
13 - joanne
hi Ms Mitchell,
i agree with everything you are saying exept one thing,could it not be possible the mother didnt know of elizabeths sexual abuse before she was put in the basement. i was sexualy abused by my father from the age of about 2 until 16 when i ran away from home. my mother claims she didnt know. maybe some mothers in the world dont know. my heart and soul go out to elizabeth and her children, i think of them all day and pray to god that they will have some kind of happiness. i didnt go through what she did but i can never forget what happend to me and im still recovering to this day and im 37. how long will she suffer for. thank you for your article Ms Mitchell
14 - molly
When one wonders about whether others might know things about a sadists lifestyle, one has to wonder about the friends he went to thailand on holiday with. Maybe the horror of what children in thailand went through may be quite extreme. Surely friends and business colleagues notice signs of someone being a pedophile and sadist.
As far as mothers not seeing things for years, i have to say that when girls i know confronted their mothers at certain points, all the mothers said they knew, but as one mother said "what did you expect me to do, lose the house?"
We have to remember that when the abuse started about 32 years ago, there was not a lot of benefits for women who left their husbands, and the alternative might have been life on the streets or every child institutionalized. We are finding out now just how many of those institutionalized children were also subjected to sexual abuse.
One mother i knew as a child, who let her daughter be raped, took the approach that she could not bear it being her treated sadistically with sex, and so just as a drowning person clings on to a friend, some people cannot help but be relieved the sadist has stopped attacking them and started on another.
Then there is the enabler situation. In some families the abuse is so many generations and so entrenched that if someone does not grow up to abuse like they were abused, then often grow up to encourage or allow abuse of their own children, as this is said to feel "normal" to them. These enablers sometimes push the sadist to abuse the child, or set the child up with childminders or someone to abuse or rape the child. The enabler only feels calm when the child is broken.
Think of it this way, if you never had a good job, always cleaned houses, and your child is set to star as a teacher or lawyer or doctor, or business person. Most of us would be happy for our child. However for some the agony of their years of earning little money, having no holidays and feeling some feelings, get more intense if they see a different way is possible. The enabler can sometimes feel like the massive pain of their own inability to have a loving mate, or to reach out and make friends etc, makes them hurt more to think that given a good home their child can be happy in love, joyful work and friends. The pain wells up and they may set up teh child to be crushed. These enablers often purpusely leave the child alone with the abuser, purposely make the child wear revealing clothes, and other activities designed to achieve their goals indirectly.
i have heard where they purposely send the child to other homes where the child will get abused. You might say, but maybe they did not know, but i do not think a loving mother does not notice her childs suffering. Some children are crying and unable to hardly talk for years afterwards, others totally flinch when the abuser comes near them. I too have never heard of a mother not knowing if she lived in the same house, and it was an ongoing thing. The child ran away three times, adn the mother did not know why, or keep an eye out to find out why?
in some ways with this story coming out,it might help police and community people take some runaway children and children reporting abuse a bit more seriously. A lot of people kind of believe the child must have made stuff up, and maybe in teh past F could have got away with it at the hospital, got them to fix up his next conquest, get her home and just keep going. However this time hospital staff were awake to things, authority figures are starting to wake up to be trained to see the signs and dangers.
I hope this means more children can step forward, be believed and get help before it is too late.
15 - Doug Hunter
As bad as I hate to admit it, perhaps light sentences and giving the sadist the media attention he wants is good rather than bad if it causes these monsters to step forward. Personally, I'd enjoy the right to administer the death sentence myself to this person who's lost his humanity, but if he new he was facing death maybe he wouldn't have let his daughter out when he did.
Also, this guy is just as mentally ill as anyone else who commits serious crimes like drowning their kids in a tub, etc. The mentally ill should get treatment but also be held responsible for their actions. Right now we pick and choose who gets the insanity defense based on how much sympathy we feel for their sex, race, and class.
If I go crazy and kill my family, even if I am insane, I will understand why I have to spend the rest of my life in prison.
16 - Juliann Mitchell
Marlene, thank you for responding and commenting. I suspect that Josef sexually abused other members of his family,however that is just speculation on my part. Sadistic as he was, I doubt that Elizabeth was the only one he singled out to abuse. All around it is just a travesty and my heart aches for all of those individuals whose lives he desecrated. You are so right-- it is "defeaningly unforgivable" what Elizabeth and her children have endured.
17 - Juliann Mitchell
Isabelle, I appreciate your taking the time to read the article and comment. Yes, I agree I think Josef had someone who helped him out, maybe more than one person. Whether or not that information will come to light is debatable. If I were the Austrian authorities I would not want to continue to keep this story on the front page of newspapers around the world.
18 - Juliann Mitchell
Joanne, thank you for your comments and for sharing about your own abuse. I am so sorry for what you have been through and experienced in your family. It takes courage to speak out, thank you.
In terms of Rosemarie not knowing that Elizabeth was being abused, I don't believe it. I think she knew, but for whatever reasons chose to ignore it or pretend it wasn't happening. As I stated earlier I think Rosemarie was also abused by Josef, her husband. Denial is such a powerful phenomenon.
19 - Anonymous Please
Children can be sexually abused without the mother being aware. I was. Children in this situation very often do not want to lose the affection of the only trusted parental figure by 'telling' or acting out in such a way that reveals their abuse. Do not be so hasty to demand a target to blame other than the perpetrator of the abuse. Elizabeth may have thought her mother had quite enough to handle living as wife to this sadistic monster--and she may have feared losing the only 'normal' parental love she'd ever experienced by revealing the abuse. It's not an uncommon reaction by a child who has lived many years within an extremely disfunctional family to have issues about helping the 'weaker' parent to cope with emotional abuse. Frau Fritzl may not have known at all. It's very possible. With a growing family (her grandchildren)keeping her busy and the passage of time since her daughter's 'running away'--suspicious activity may well have been mentally justified by the wife as simply an affair with a stranger, or visits to a prostitute. Who would think the 'unthinkable'? Would you?
20 - Juliann Mitchell
Molly, thank you for your comments and for taking the time and energy to respond as you did. I think you have made some great points. It would not be surprising to me to discover that he was sadistic and abusive in Thailand as well as in Austria. I doubt that when Josef when on holiday his predilections for sadism took a vacation too. It is well known that children are for sale in Thailand for a nominal price.
Yes I agree that there were not alot of choices available for women thirty two years ago. However I dont know what social service agencies had or have to offer in Austria. Yet I cannot say that I can condone a woman staying with a man who was convicted of rape and was sadistically abusing her child or children. Once again I will say that Rosemarie was also victimized by Josef.
I, too hope that all Elizabeth and her children have endured can give some hope and inspiration for others to come forward. But as you wrote about, many times the mothers are enraged with the daughters or sons for revealing the abuse. I, too have seen this over and over again. The child/adolescent is accused of destroying the family unit and are made to feel guilty, as if they are the problem not the abuser or the colluder. So the survivor often does not get the support they need or are deserving of. Yes it is also true that sometimes the already abused child is then placed in foster care and are once again victimized.
21 - Juliann Mitchell
Doug thanks for your well thought out comments. I would like to suggest that Josef is not mentally ill, at least in the way I conceptualize mental illness. Maybe we are saying the same thing but in different ways. The Andrea Gates case you are referring to in Texas is somewhat different than Josef Fritzl. Andrea is a schizophrenic and was mentally ill at the time she drowned her five children. She was hearing voices telling her to kill them and at the time she was actively psychotic. I dont thibk Josef was hearing voices and from all that I have read I don't think he schizophrenic . He was very aware of what he was doing and was quite premeditated in his acts of violence and sadistic abuse. It I was pushed to describe him I would choose the word, "evil" as opposed to mentally ill. Evil is not a category in our diagnostic manual but that doesn't mean it isn't real or doesn't exist. However I must say that it is all just an opinion on my part.
22 - Juliann Mitchell
Anonymous, thank you for commenting and for all that you shared related to your own experiences growing up. I do agree that children in dysfunctional families often take on the role of the "parentified child." The child worries about the parent and tries to make everything all right for the them, ignoring their own needs. It is also very normal for the abused child to not want their family life to be destroyed and often will sacrifice themself to keep the family unit together. Sometimes the child is threatened and told if they tell it will break up the family unit or the abuser will tell the child if they cooperate he will not bother the siblings. It is a tremendous burden for the child to bear. Yes, I think Rosemarie was overwhelmed, and abused herself but I think she knew. But that is just my opinion and we may never really know. There are other signs when a child is being abused. They may not talk about it but it comes out in their drawings, or their play, or their nonverbal behaviors, such as nightmares, wetting the bed, and behaviors that are not age appropriate.
23 - Anonymous Please
Dear Dr. Michelle,
Thank you for your kind response to my message. Yes, you are quite right that there are enormous emotional burdens placed on abused children. The stigma of childhood sexual abuse survival is also quite burdensome. Hence, my request for anonymity that you have been so gracious as to allow. Thank you for that.
I agree with much of what you say. Unfortunately for myself, a family history (albeit, mainly annectdotal) of sleep disturbance, including night terrors (yes, I still have episodes), coupled with asynchronistic intellectual and emotional development (evident in my siblings also--who were not sexually abused) made any 'other signs' of abuse rather hard to recognize. The term 'age appropriate' can be somewhat a subjective thing. Very little of my childhood social behavior would be termed this, even prior to the abuse. I do not believe I exhibited any outward signs of sexual precocity--but, in hindsight, my vocabulary and social interactions with other children were not the norm, chronologically. I chose different peer groups depending upon the activity I wished to participate in. Again, my siblings were much like myself in this respect, so I knew no other way of being.
I believe that adults embroiled in their own battles with alchohol/drug (or spousal/emotional) abuse may not very aware of all of the emotional struggles of their children, or be in denial because of their disease. People who self medicate themselves to the point of numbness can be quite unaware of what is happening to their children. It was so for me. Please realize that I don't believe these 'factors' to be excusable, per se, but may be part of the reason that the abuse is not noticed.
An erroneously quantified statement that 'all loving mothers know' when their children are being abused is an injustice and harmful, not only to the mothers of individuals who have been sexually abused--but to those who are laboring to heal from the abuse to themselves.
I am not delusional about the fact that there was sad neglect (for a variety of reasons) in my own case--but to imply complicity of the mother due to supposed knowledge and inaction in EVERY case seems to paint the picture with a bit too broad a brush. My mother was a 'loving mother'(yes, I know--we all have the strong need to believe this). I also strongly believe that she was unaware of the abuse I endured as a child. I understand that it seems like an statistically unlikely scenario--but I believe it to be true in my case. That is why I feel that rushing to judgement about this woman's culpability may not necessarily be a fair thing. My pespective may be skewed, but I would ask that you keep an open mind about the possibility that she did not know what was happening to her daughter. It may be true.
Again-thank you for your time.
24 - Juliann Mitchell
Anonymous, thank you so much for your hearfelt and thoughtful response. I admire your willingness to share what you have. Please know that I understand it is so challenging to deal with all that you have experienced as a child and adolescent. The fact that you are willing to write and respond speaks volumes. You are a courageous woman and thank you again for your insights.
25 - Rachel
I am so grieved about this story, and appreciate your astute insights. Elizabeth has been robbed of her adult life and her body was stolen and regarded and used like a piece of meat.
I think about RoseMarie being told to never go in the basement of her own home, and of her presumably observing this rule, and the many things her observance could mean. Of course, even if someone entered the basement, I read that the heavy cement small door was well-concealed behind a bookshelf and required an electronic code to open.
I am also extremely curious about Elizabeth's siblings out in the world.
I'm personally against the death penalty, but it seems that in addition to life in prison, 24 years in solitary confinement would be an appropriate sentence. I heard he was only being tried for rape. I hope that report is wrong. What about kidnapping/abduction? Does incest come under the umbrella of rape with no distinction legally?
Eve Ensler, author of play The Vagina Monologues, and her Vday.org, are working to end worldwide and violence against women and systematic acceptance of it by exposing complacency and the societally-imposed shame on women that keeps them silent.