Austrian horrors

“Is there really any way that anyone could have suspected what was taking place in that cellar?”

Speaker’s Corner
Denise Horan

‘ALL that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.’ How quickly we all presumed, when the horror story of the Fritzl family in Austria broke last week, that Edmund Burke’s words applied. Applied to Josef Fritzl’s wife, Rosemarie, who claimed to have known nothing about the 24-year-long litany of abuse inflicted by her husband on their daughter, in spite of the fact that she was rearing three of her daughter’s children as her own. Applied to the neighbours of the Fritzls, who seemed to think there was nothing odd about Josef Fritzl, nothing suspicious in his cellar, nothing unusual about the amount of time he spent there. Applied to the authorities in Amstetten, who allowed him to adopt three children he claimed were left on his doorstep by his daughter who had absconded to a cult, in spite of him having a rape conviction.
They were all either turning a blind eye or were incredibly stupid, we presumed. How easily we could make such presumptions, tucked away safely on the other side of Europe, in no danger of catching the appalling indifference that we believed was rife in Austria.
As the week wore on, we learned a little more about the situation. Found out that Josef Fritzl was a controlling, manipulative and extremely clever man, who aroused no suspicion because he never allowed his mask of respectability to slip in public – and never allowed his dominance be questioned in his own home.
It has been acknowledged in the Austrian media in the past week that the unquestioning attitude to apparent respectability that obtains in the country allowed this abuse to go undetected for so long. They turned a blind eye, rather than asking the questions that begged to be asked, it was suggested. They now ought to question themselves.
Perhaps there is a uniquely Austrian element to this horror story, but it is truer to say that this is a uniquely horrific story. Is there really any way that anyone could have suspected what was taking place in that cellar? Could anyone conceive of something so unthinkably barbarous being done to a child by her own father? I don’t believe so. And I don’t believe we should live our lives expecting such things to happen, whether it be next door or 3,000 miles away.
Yes, it is true that today we know very little about our neighbours and probably wouldn’t miss them if we didn’t see them for a month. For lots of reasons, this is sad. But those reasons are all to do with neighbourliness and community spirit and taking time to engage, or rather the lack of all three that now exists. It is not sad because it prevents us from potentially unearthing things like that which was taking place in that cellar in Amstetten. Some things go way beyond the radar of neighbourly vigilance.
Regardless of how indifferent, cold or austere the people of Austria may be, they do not bear responsibility – even partially – I believe, for what Josef Fritzl did. Some people and some acts are simply evil beyond comprehension. Indubitably, his 24-year reign of terror falls into that category.
Where Austria does now bear responsibility, however, is in ensuring that justice is done. That Josef Friztl gets the punishment he deserves. And that is not committal to a psychiatric institution. He was cold and calculating and unrelentingly cruel in what he did, and genius at covering it up. He had his wits about him at all times.
Instead of blaming Austrian society – or even questioning it – for this tragedy we should pray that its legal system does not let down Elisabeth Fritzl, her six children, Rosemarie Fritzl and her six other children. They have suffered enough.
As for the rest of us, we should grieve for that family and the torture they have been through, but we must not start imagining Josef Fritzls in our own community. He was a rare monster; to live in fear of him reappearing elsewhere will only diminish us.