It was only thanks to Kerstin Fritzl's sudden illness that she, her mother Elisabeth, and two of her siblings were finally able to escape from their basement prison in 2008.
SID Lower Austria/Getty ImagesThe Fritzl house at Ybbsstrasse 40 in Amstetten, Austria, where Kerstin Fritzl spent the first 19 years of her life imprisoned in the basement.
Until the age of 19, Kerstin Fritzl spent her life underground. She never saw the sun, felt the fresh air, or touched the grass with her fingertips. Kerstin was a captive of Josef Fritzl — her father and her grandfather — who had imprisoned Kerstin’s mother Elisabeth in 1984 in order to use her as a sex slave.
Kerstin spent the first two decades of her life in the prison that Josef had constructed beneath the Fritzl family home at Ybbsstrasse 40 in Amstetten, Austria. She was the first child of Elisabeth and Josef, a product of rape and incest, and was present for the births of the six children who followed.
And it was thanks to Kerstin that, in 2008, the family finally escaped from Josef.
Born Into A House Of Horrors
By the time Kerstin Fritzl was born on Aug. 30, 1988, her mother Elisabeth Fritzl had been Josef Fritzl’s prisoner for four years.
Elisabeth’s captivity began in 1984, when her father lured her to a basement prison he’d been developing since the 1970s, knocked her out with ether, and tied her to the bed. Josef had first raped Elisabeth when she was 11, and the privacy of the basement prison allowed him to escalate his abuse.
60 Minutes Australia/YouTubeElisabeth Fritzl, the oldest of Elisabeth Fritzl’s children, as seen before her captivity.
Josef beat Elisabeth, psychologically tormented her, and forced her to reenact scenes from violent pornographic films. Meanwhile, the outside world believed his lie that Elisabeth had run away and joined a religious cult. (Unsurprisingly, she had tried to run away from home before.)
Then, Elisabeth got pregnant.
Elisabeth’s first pregnancy in 1986 ended in a miscarriage. But in 1987, she got pregnant with Kerstin. According to reporting from The Telegraph in 2009, Josef Fritzl begrudgingly gave Elisabeth a book on pregnancy, a pair of scissors, a blanket, and some diapers. But after she delivered Kerstin alone and without anesthesia, he didn’t check on them for 10 days.
Kerstin Fritzl’s Life In The Basement
Following Kerstin Fritzl’s birth, Elisabeth gave birth six more times. One child died in infancy. But Elisabeth Fritzl’s other children were born relatively healthy.
Josef took some of the children (Lisa, Monika, and Alexander) upstairs, and convinced his wife and the Austrian authorities that Elisabeth had dropped them off on the doorstep. He left the other three children (Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix) under their mother’s care in the basement prison.
Despite their horrific circumstances, Elisabeth tried to make life pleasant for her children. She decorated the walls with images of flowers, stars, the sun, and animals like snails and octopuses.
Austrian Federal PoliceJosef Fritzl started raping his daughter Elisabeth when she was 11 years old, and then began constructing a basement prison to keep her in.
But she couldn’t protect them from Josef’s wrath. When Josef was angry, he would reportedly cut off the electricity or withhold food. When he and his “upstairs” family went on vacation, he often left Elisabeth, Kerstin, and the other “downstairs” children alone for up to 10 days. And Josef continued to rape Elisabeth.
“Have you ever wondered what it was like in the cellar?” a prosecutor later asked jurors at Josef Fritzl’s trial in 2009, according to the Daily Beast. “Light out. Rape. Light on. Moldy walls. Rape. Light out.”
Despite her mother’s best efforts, life in the basement took its toll on Kerstin. According to a 2010 article from the Independent, she reacted to captivity by having “fits,” shredding her clothing, and stuffing it in the toilet.
It seemed that life would continue that way indefinitely. But then, in 2008, Kerstin Fritzl suddenly fell deathly ill.
‘Please, Please Help Her’
Kerstin Fritzl had never seen the sun or breathed fresh air. As a result, she’d always been sickly, and she had suffered from epileptic attacks since she was born. But in April 2008, her health took a turn for the worse.
When her daughter appeared to be on the brink of death, Elisabeth Fritzl appealed to Josef, begging him to take the 19-year-old to the hospital. On April 19, Josef agreed. But before he took Kerstin out of the basement, Elisabeth slipped a note in her daughter’s pocket.
“Please, please help her,” Elisabeth wrote according to a 2008 Guardian article, suggesting to the doctors that aspirin and cough medicine might help. “Kerstin is really terrified of other people. She was never in a hospital.”
HandoutThe basement prison where Josef Fritzl kept Elisabeth and her children Kerstin, Stefan, and Felix.
At the hospital, doctors diagnosed Kerstin with kidney, lung, and liver failure and placed her in a medically induced coma. But her precarious health — and lack of medical records — also roused their suspicion. They demanded to speak to her mother. Incredibly, Josef agreed.
He concocted a story about how Elisabeth Fritzl had decided to come home with Stefan and Felix. But once Elisabeth was alone with the police, she struck a deal — if they promised she would never have to see her father again, she would tell them the full story.
Meanwhile, Kerstin Fritzl woke up in a totally different world than the one she had always known.
Kerstin Fritzl’s ‘New Life’
Albert Reiter, the leading anesthetist where Kerstin Fritzl was being treated, told The Guardian in 2008 that Kerstin waking up was a poignant moment.
“I said, ‘Kerstin, hello Kerstin,’ and she said to me “‘Hello’ and I said: ‘A new life has begun.'”
Despite her decades of isolation, Kerstin Fritzl adapted to her “new life” fairly quickly. Hospital workers were pleased to see her “bopping” in bed to the music of Robbie Williams, whom she had first seen on TV in the basement. Kerstin also expressed a desire to see the singer in concert and to go skiing one day.
She had been in a coma for about seven weeks, but Kerstin was soon able to speak, stand, and walk with assistance. Doctors told The Guardian that they weren’t entirely sure what had caused her organ failure, but speculated that it could have been related to epilepsy.
“We’ve so far been unable to ascertain the definite cause of organ failure, but it’s probable that a small inflammation [which remained untreated] triggered the failure of one of her major organs,” Reiter explained. “The lungs appear to have failed after she bit her tongue during an epileptic fit and she got blood in her lungs as a result.”
Whatever caused her illness, Kerstin’s trip to the hospital resulted in her family’s escape from the basement. And their lives would never be the same.
Where Are Elisabeth Fritzl And Her Children Today?
AP Photo/Police NiederoesterreichJosef Fritzl shortly after his arrest.
Following Elisabeth Fritzl’s declaration to the police, Josef was arrested and put on trial. Before long, DNA tests confirmed that Josef was the father of Elisabeth Fritzl’s children.
In 2009, he was found guilty of enslavement, incest, rape, coercion, and false imprisonment. Josef also pleaded guilty to negligent homicide related to the death of Elisabeth’s son, Michael. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Meanwhile, Elisabeth, Kerstin, and the rest of their family started a new life in an undisclosed location in Austria known only as “Village X.”
Not much is known about their lives now. The Independent reported that Kerstin and her “downstairs” siblings initially had trouble bonding with the “upstairs” children, but that their relationship has improved.
Elisabeth, for her part, has reportedly developed a love for “glittery” jeans, passed her driver’s test, and even found love. In 2019, she married her bodyguard, Thomas Wagner.
Less is known about Kerstin Fritzl’s life today in Village X. But one thing is for sure. After spending the first two decades of her life imprisoned in a basement, Kerstin’s future will look very different.
After discovering the little-known story of Kerstin Fritzl, the eldest daughter of Elisabeth Fritzl, see how Natascha Kampusch survived eight years in captivity after being kidnapped at the age of 10. Or, read the disturbing story of Kenneth Parnell, who kidnapped two boys in the 1970s and 1980s — and later tried to buy another child.
