To not believe Hans Fritzel's wife could not 'know' that her husband was imprisoning a whole family in the bloody cellar??

[mimimilk]

Sorry, I am willing to stand corrected on this and do not claim to have in depth knowledge of the case, but FFS, he kept a whole family of human beings locked in a cellar for over 20 years, and his wife and other kids really had no idea at all?? I find it beyond belief.

That's all right then.

Don't underestimate the power of denial.

She may have known, she may not.

I find either believable.

I wonder if she was suffering from a low grade Stockholm syndrome or something. Do we know what kind of life she had with him? All I have heard from is the lodgers who said he was very strict

Nabster, what do you mean? I just cannot imagine, living in a house (even if it were huge- it would still be mine and I'd know all its nooks and crannies) and genuinely having no knowledge that something, if not outright evil, then at least secretive and strange, was occuring in my home.

I find it disturbing, people choosing not to see to know something that is going to hurt them but others so much more.

So all the daughters children were kept in the cellar too?

Sorry - haven't been following it closely enough.

I see no benefit in discussing this case or making assumptions, I very much doubt we will ever know what happened.

Don't you think that is he was able to treat his daughter as he did, that he could keep things from his wife too?

in 2 minds about this, logically you think how could she not know, but then nothing about this case is logical, if you heard noises in your basement your first thought probably wouldn't be , has hubby got people under there. He is obviously a hugely controlling man, we have no idea what her life with him was like, she may have lived in fear for herself and kept quiet.

Why is it a 'distasteful thread', I genuinely do not understand? What he did was horrific and inhuman but it does not mean that we should not think, or even discuss how such a thing could have happened.

maybe she was a bit deaf

I read that in Austria in the 70's and early 80's the gov't gave out grants to build nuclear bomb shelters. Fritzl was a fairly wealthy builder and I imagine got a grant as did a fair few other Austrians. It is plausible that he had this thing constructed with the knowledge of his wife but then deceived her about it. Apparently it isn't in a cellar directly below the house. it is some meters away from the house itself in the garden, reached by an underground tunnel so any noise the family made inside the bunker was totally inaudible in the house or directly above in the garden.

I for one think it is plausible that by the circumstance above coupled with some amt of denial or conditioning by the dynamics of her marriage to Fritzl that she honestly didn't know about what he was up to.

I think the police would have been asking her the same questions too.
By the way the thread is not distasteful.

Agree OP (haven't been following the story in detail either) but I do remember that a few of the babies/children were taken 'upstairs' to be looked after.

I can only assume that Mrs F was subjected to some form of abuse and control too.

we discussed this a few evenings ago..how could it be that there was a secret door in the house that led to a cellar where an entire other family lived that they never heard or were aware of in anyway...
terrible situation in everyway, just terrible.

Allowing your thoughts to drift into the realms of who did or didn't know brings more question on what type of life the wife and other children led also.
It's just too awful

its truely awful and in a way he has got a way with it by going nto a secure hospital, he did understand what he was doing, he was living quite a lavish life alongside it for years and years. the though if him dying before they were found is terrible...imagine

Like others have said yes she may well have been subject to some form of abuse or control herself. But honestly, honestly honestly, i would lay down my life for my own child, and god help me if I even had a supicion that something awful could be happening to him I woulod do eveything within my power to change that.

Its all very well peopl turning up their noses and proclaiming that discussing a certain thing is 'distasteful' but surely part of being human is to try to try to understand. I just don't understand this shying away from some of the aspects of humanity which are harder but still important to try to underatand.

His wife knew he was a convicted rapist. But none of his excuses sit comfortably with me. His daughter was "in danger of going off the rails", he was abused by his mother in that he wasn't allowed friends and she was "controlling". Bollocks, tbh.

southeastastra

Yes YABU unless you have some inside knowledfge

it wasn't a normal cellar like you or i have in our houses. it was built by him, not part of the house.

sigh

nobody reads my posts, do they...

By foxytocin on Fri 20-Mar-09 21:01:15

Just posting to say the thread may be discussing stuff that's pretty awful but I don't think it's necessarily wrong to discuss it.

It is awful and disturbing. I remember feeling sick when I first read about it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I often find I have to talk about things to get them outside of me.

If that makes sense.

This was very disturbing. I hate to think of how much of her life the daughter has lost. Or her children.