I should probably preface what follows with the glad tidings that I am a
Belgian national, and am familiar with the notion that my old motherland is
best summed up as being good at chips, chocolate and paedophilia. The thing
about national stereotypes is that, like the best clichés, they are usually
true.
When I left Brussels, aged nine, to come and live in London, my grandmother’s
cook looked at me with great pity and informed me that I was moving to a
country where people ate meat with jam and where men wore ladies’ underwear.
The latter, while not technically 100% accurate, is essentially a good
encapsulation of the British sexual psyche: correct on the outside, Max
Mosleyish within.
So perhaps any Austrian readers will forgive me when I say that, no matter
what has been said about Josef Fritzl’s horrendous, stomach-churning crimes
not being indicative of any malaise in that country’s psyche - the Brits
have, after all, produced Fred West and Ian Brady among others - Austria is
quite a strange place.
A few years ago, I went to write an article about a (wonderful) health clinic
there. It was in a small village on the banks of the most spectacular huge
lake. The air was clean, the light was amazing, the lake water pure enough
to drink, the church a baroque jewel, and within a few hours I felt I’d
discovered some marvellous secret destination: forget renting overpriced
houses in Italy, I thought to myself, from now on we’re spending the summer
in one of these charming villas on the water, with pleasingly rustic
shutters and Heidi-style roofs: sehr gut.
Then my “treatment” - starvation, basically - started, and as the days went
past I began to feel a bit strange. I kept seeing posters with a vaguely
familiar face on them but couldn’t work out who the man was, until I
realised it was Jörg Haider, the extremely right-wing - some might say
fascist - politician, who’d been booted out of his far-right party for being
a bit OTT. He’d become an independent and was governor of the charming
province where I was staying.
Then, as I wandered around trying not to think about food, I started asking
myself about all the old men who were also there for the cure and wondering
what they’d got up to in the war. Then I realised I was the darkest person
around for miles - I am half Pakistani - and wondered if Austrians had
perfected the German trick of setting fire to potentially Turkish-looking
people.
What was oddest of all was the literature in the clinic’s waiting rooms:
glossy magazines containing hundreds of photographs of minor European
royalty disporting themselves in, more often than not, traditional costume -
a gräfin in a dirndl here, some count in lederhosen there. Interspersed with
these not unamusing images were ads for sadomasochistic brothels
(prostitution is legal in Austria), featuring an image of some huge-bosomed,
bewhipped Amazonian fraulein in a leather basque, shackles and cuffs
glinting promisingly in the background. It was weird: there was no variety
in the ads, no hint that anybody might fancy any other kind of sexual
scenario, which suggested the national taste went one way, and one way only.
Then the Natascha Kampusch story broke (she was kidnapped and locked in a
cellar for eight years, also in Austria). My friend Maria arrived that day.
One evening we shuffled out in our institutional dressing gowns, too weak to
get dressed, and sat in a cafe. Elderly men kept wandering past, busily on
their way somewhere, but there was nowhere to go. “Look at them,” Maria
muttered. “All off to check on their dungeons.”
Some stereotypes exist for a reason. I find the Fritzl case so grisly - I’ve
read the stuff and wish I hadn’t. The detail is soul-polluting.
However, to those who advise us to be wary of pointing the finger, looking to
Britain’s own rich and varied history of appalling rapes and murders, I
would say: that’s the point, its horror is rich and varied. Austria seems to
specialise in a particularly vile, furtive, freakishly awful kind of abuse,
involving keeping women or children as slaves in dungeons. The Fritzl case,
while perhaps uniquely monstrous, is the third of its kind in recent memory.
This week a bill banning “violent extreme pornography” is set to become law in
the UK, although it is perhaps too optimistic to hope that this will have
any impact on the thousands of porn websites that specialise in images of
abused women - gagged, bound, sedated, bruised or bleeding, locked into dog
crates, shackled in cellars, sometimes unconscious: all yours at the click
of a mouse.
I believe the advent of political correctness has meant that men’s rage
against women is manifesting itself in increasingly underground and deranged
ways. I liked it better when you could call your female boss a “stupid
bitch” without fear of getting taken to an industrial tribunal. Silence
makes people do weird stuff, like Googling abuse porn. There’s nothing more
dangerous than hostility, or a sense of injustice, festering in secret;
Austria is quite good at festering, and at concealing unlovely realities.
When my teenage boys ask me about the Fritzl case I make no apologies for my
reply. They are obsessed by the details: by the alleged innocence of
Fritzl’s wife Rosemarie and the profoundly disturbing notion of a mother
standing by, doing nothing, claiming not to know, powerless to help, as her
child is raped and bred in captivity; by the fact that, as in a horrible
dark fairy tale, nobody heard the cries and nobody came, as the years and
decades ticked by, even though lots of people must have seen a man wheeling
barrowfuls of food to an apparently empty basement and even though it must
be hard to install a metal door weighing several tonnes single-handedly. And
by the fact that the story is pitch-black, with no redemptive anything: no
good person, no hope, no happy ending, nothing.
I can’t explain any of this, so I say what I do know: “Austria is quite a
weird place. Beautiful, and full of culture and good people, but weird.”
Perhaps that is reinforcing the exact kind of stereotype that helped
Austria, unlike Germany, keep its ugly secrets to itself for so long;
perhaps it is an immoral and devastating thing to say. Or perhaps it’s just
the truth.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt through having a child with special needs, it is not to judge other people in a similar boat
I am an Austrian working in the US and when I read this article saying something like 'People in Austria are weird" I have to start thinking about things happened on certain Islands around UK, or things going on with small children and microwaves in Texas. So please simply stop generalizing!!
Florian, Vienna, Austria
It is very sad to see who the Brits think about Austria. You India should look for a new job or maybe write about the Royalty, lipstick or the latest fashion but please do yourself a favour and keep away from serious journalism. It's not your cup o' tea!
Judging a whole country is just WEIRD!
Cornelia, Vienna, Austria
To understand Austria, you must know the history of the country, how Anastasia from Moscow, said. It's a country between four different areas of RACES. (hoping erveryone understanding) There are the Slawians, the Magyars, the Germans and the Romanians. I think thats the reason for being weird!
Gerald Gumpoltsberger, Linz, Austria
Austrians have that Germanic thing, like the British. They see that something is very wrong, know that its wrong, but say they don't want to get involved. Everybody knows, this happens on the tubes every day, if there's a problem they study their shoes and read all the adverts in their magazines.
phil de Buquet, Newport,
If hillary clinton is not nominated then I guarantee Obama will loose, because Amerca is not ready for a Black president yet, but the WHITES and blacks are ready for Women President. OHMS
Ohma, london, UK
Andy Cunningham, Melbourne, Australia
In your 20 year career have you come across google?
Google "abused women gagged bound sedated bruised bleeding locked dog crates shackled cellars"
I doubt you will find thousands, but dozens, maybe even hundreds,
Dominic, Manchester, England
You're right about national stereotypes. The seven major players in World War 2 all behaved exactly as you would have expected. The mistake, of course, is to attribute the stereotype to individuals (and vice versa).
Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.
I've been in IT and on the Internet for 20 years. Can't say I've heard anywhere of "the thousands of porn websites that specialise in images of abused women - gagged, bound, sedated, bruised or bleeding, locked into dog crates, shackled in cellars, sometimes unconscious." Hard to find, is it?
Andy Cunningham, Melbourne, Australia
How can you blame the country as a whole for this horrendous crime? It is a gross generalisation and entirely unfair. Normally I enjoy reading India's articles, but this one has not been in any way enlightening or thought-provoking, A bad experience at a health spa is no excuse for xenophobia.
Alice, Norwich, England
They may be wierd but damn are they good a cricket!!
NIX, Wirral, England
you cannot blame a whole population for the misdeads of one man. or even two (the man who kidnapped natascha kampusch). i am an american living in germany, i met and befriended 3 very lovely austrian men while i was at a conference in france a few years ago. all 3 were very friendly and helpful.
michelle, Berlin, germany
Anybody who at some point in his/her life has been to Austria or knows someone who has been is now an expert on the country. You can travel all over Europe and find people weird as a Brit. Maybe India should go for a wellness weekend in Switzerland next time. Some weird people there too!
Puni, London,
Austrian society likes to look orderly & respectable, but turns a blind eye to any ugliness within it. As was the case in WW II, this is the shameful reason Mrs Fritzl, the neighbours and authorities did nothing to help Elizabeth. To redeem its image, Austria should punish these crimes harshly!
Sundiatu, London, UK
Lincoln Towers, the people protested in the streets because of repeated instances of police incompetence and preceived government indifference or, worse, complaissance over an extended period of time. Your comment is either disingenuous, dishonest or both.
Billy Barnett, HK,
"The thing about national stereotypes is that...they are usually true."
An anti-intellectual, stupid comment that sets the tone for the rest of the article. It is juvenile to resort to national stereotypes to explain complex psychological behaviour.
Roy Allen, Hong Kong,
I agree with India, but there is a lot of other crimes connected with particular country and we must remember them. And I agree that Austria is a bit weird, to understand it you should study its history.
Anastasia, Moscow, Russia
Ms Knight, can you spell J-E-R-S-E-Y ?
And when you've accomplished that tricky task, perhaps do some research into Belgian paedophilia?
Ah but both those cases were state sanctioned, so I guess they don't count...
Al Green, Bristol, UK
judging a whole group of people by the action of one sick person is a bit far reaching and totally unfair to Austrians.
The guy is sick and needs serious help. His family was and still is suffering from his irrational actions. There is hope for them, but there is none for him.
Albert, Birmingham, USA
I dont think you should generallize this, Indie.
I have been in Austria some months ago, and I was very well treated.
After all, american people have kids who go to school and start shooting, and british have jack the ripper and another cases like that.
Evil is an international concept
DM, Lisbon,
I am from McAlester Oklahoma USA. I have two children. We prey for Elizabeth and her kids every night. Maybe you people should spend more time doing that!! Strang people are all over the world.
Jeanelle Thomas, McAlester, USA
Incest crimes happen everywhere, even over long periods of time - may there be a cellar or not. It's a bit rich suggesting that the Fritzl case is only to blame on the Austrian past and mentality. It's the easiest route, though. "Them, not us. Over there, not here."
Katja, Bremen, Germany
I lived in Austria for a year when I was 5 yrs old and been a subject of racism,which,when you're a very young child,scares you for life.
I've been living in UK for 3 years now and nothing of a kind have happened yet. Yes,Austria is a strange place.
Lina, West Midlands, England
I am still wondering about Herr Fritzl's wife. She was either thick as two short planks or she knew what was happening and did nothing. Who delivered those children? Why did he spend so much time in the basement? Didn't Frau Fritzl have any suspicions? How could she have been that terrified of him?
Lydia Dugan, Huntingdon Valley Pan, U.S.A
Richelle - just today (Monday), some 10,000 people took part in an event in Vienna's Heldenplatz to mark the 63rd anniversary of the liberation of Muathausen. India and you might not be aware of such events, and the British media does not report them - but the Austrians DO confront their Nazi past.
Name Withheld, Vienna, Austria
Generalization and stereotyping are modern days plagues, India. This whole story is way too sad and revolting and can´t be boiled up to "it could only have happened in Austria". I´m sure you have already faced prejudice in your life, so think twice before spreading this kind of thoughts.
B, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Having visited Austria for the first time this April, what struck me was how Austrians barely acknowledged the thousands of Austrian citizens dehumanised and murdered. The Vienna Jewish Museum was shamefully devoid of history. Ms Knight writes an intelligent, and thoughtful narrative
richelle, london,
I agree knowing about The Fritzl Family is soul-polluting. Everyone concerned knew that what was happening was wrong. Whatever country you come from or live in, you know. The message for us as humankind is be a good person.
jean, plymouth,
Lincoln Towers - have you made any effort to read Austrian media reporting on the crime in Amstetten? If you had, you'd know how shocked and sickened people here are. Re. "self-awareness" -- the self-flagellating op-eds Austrians have written both at home and abroad cut your claims to shreds
British Expat, Vienna, Austria
German police have just arrested a woman for killing 3 of her infants and placing them in a freezer. This is the fourth such case in Germany in two years. When can we expect India Knight to write a "They do vile differently in Germany" op-ed?
British Expat, Vienna, Austria
In Belgium the Dutroux paedophile case brought crowds onto the streets and there was a real feeling that the public was putting everyone in authority in the dock. It was a real show of self-awareness. You don't see that self-awareness in Austria. That gives the stereotyping some worrying validity.
Lincoln Towers, Brussels, Belgium
I think this is a brave article,and holds weight.In my experience,it is true that alot of stereotypes exist for a good reason,& so long as you remember that they are a generalisation,i think they can be useful.Nations,cultures,societies all exhibit different vices/virtues,blessings/curses 4 a reason
Sam, Swansea, UK
Pathetic article. Attacking a whole country on the basis of one event, oh sorry and the fact the author was 'starved' while at a spa retreat - what on earth does this have to do with anything?!!!
bad things happen all over the world, it shouldn't be an excuse for xenophobia. rubbish journalism.
tom, london, london
To Mike Bailey's article, the British press is just the stereotype of the "perfidious Albion"...
Francois, paris,
Dryden: "Great minds are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide." Austria produced Mozart and Hitler, Haydn and Freud. Perhaps the Austrian National Psyche is indeed sitting on Dryden's thin boundary? Future DNA studies should be awaited with interest.
Bill McCann, Suzhou, c
These things happen anywhere. Young girls in Afghanistan, Iran are married-sold to old husbands (sex predators) who can afford to buy them.( just because they developed at 6-8-10-12 y/o they are still girls). The family and community accept this as part of their culture and they don’t do nothin
Estrella, Miami, USA
Maybe we are ignorant about Austria as I don't understand why Elizabeth couldn't do more to help. Most of us (mothers) would have done something so there must be something Austrians where not only the mother, but the neighbours, friends, other family members chose to pretend it all away.
Jackie, London,
I didn t know they had crime in Austria, apart from denying the holocaust of course, but I get the impression that whichdoctors desperate for some original spin have latched onto this anomaly. On the other hand, we don t know everything about Herr Fritzel who seems to have a variegated background. Maybe he had something to do with the filming of The Sound of Music.
Henry Percy, London, UK
India, what about Marc Dutroux? Is Belgium a country of child abuser? Is the belgian part of your soul offended of similar stereotypes? I belive that such kind of stereotypes are dangerous! Racism and Holocoust are built on the same fundament. I am disappointed about cankered way of coverage!
Martin, Linz / Upper Austria, Austria
How weird to write such an article! And how sick to make a whole nation responsible for a crime two selected psychopaths committed!
I read very much about Mary Bell and about James Bulger but never would I intend to call the British a weird nation who specializes in bringing up child killers.
Sandra, Vienna, Austria
Just look at the facts in this story. They are repugnant beyond belief - are we as men so depraved so low so debased that we have come to this. We are supposed to be the strong humble ones who lead or have we become too debauched to realise that we really hurt ourselves by committing wicked acts.
vernon butcher, basingstoke, england
No good person? Elisabeth Fritzl sounds like a very courageous person to have withstood the abuse of her father, yet at the same time try to raise her children with the best care and love she could possibly give, despite the environment she and her children were forced to live in.
Harry, Northwich, Cheshire
I am Austrian, and this is breaking my heart. I am absolutely appalled about this crime, and everybody I have talked to is,as well. If anything, Austrians can be accused of keeping to themselves too much, and that the crime could´ve been discovered sooner. And even that is not specifically Austrian.
johanna, Vienna, Austria
Austrians are a bit wierd - as a Euro traveller many times i know. However the Swiss (esp. Swiss Germans) are also in the same boat - rich, bored, unfriendly and wierd. But the most strange of all has to be the Belgiums - i've never had a good meeting with any of them (India is half Belguim!)
Graham, london,
Well written, but I believe that simply dismissing an entire country as "weird" is both escapist and ultimately enabling for that culture.
Could it happen here -- in the U.S.? Certainly; just as it could happen in the U.K.
Weird, indeed.
Paul, Philadelphia, U.S.
Poor Austrians. What will they not meet of attitudes when going abroad after this? Will they have to deny their fathers and refuse their names?
Kerstin, Paris, France
This simpistic and cheap attempt to extrapolate from your own experience on some kind of health farm is the least tasteful article about a terrible crime that i've seen. A shameless egoistic trill on a serious issue, grow up.
cato, london, uk
Beware complacency - link these awful crimes to some unproved national attribute of the Austrians or Germans or Swiss ( where exactly would you draw the boundary ?) and you build an awful comfortable zone which will allow similar crimes to go undiscovered.
Harry Willis , North Yorkshire ,
No good person in the Fritzl story, India Knight? What about Elisabeth???
And Rolf Bjork, Marbella, Spain, as for your pathetic "new low for modern man": Check out on what. happened to the children of Fred and Rosemary West. And there are many more.
Asta, Hamburg, Germany
Whilst normal' people cannot comprehend the horrors committed by Herr Fritzl et al, it is too easy to tarnish the entire Austrian nation because of the behaviour of a deranged few. Remember the other infamous Austrian who did the same to 'non-Aryan' people nearly seventy years ago.
Donovan Wright, Reading, Berkshire,
"No good person", you say, India. But I think Elisabeth sounds as if she was heartbreakingly good. She cared for three children who never saw daylight for 19 years. And why did her excited 5 year old son ask if God was up there when he came out into the daylight?
Celia Bright, Bedford, UK
Austria has gotten such a bashing because it is a civilised country. Does anyone remember Jeremy Clarkson's mention of his weird experience of Austrians and Austria, the article appeared about 5 years ago.
katrina, london,
No matter how alive the hills might look, definitely here is one Knight stand.
Oluap Adnarim, Brasília, Brazil
obtuse but relevant. 60s I visited a club in Pigalle full of gorgeous girls. I walked out alone doorman gave me a card anything you want,little boys little girls.On a church visit to Austria one of the girls was pestered by a man like a dog on heat. it was embarassing to us Brits now they is here
ged , manchester,
Let's hope it never happens in Australia again.
Rory, Edinburgh, Scotland
Cruelty & perversion are not restricted to certain nations. Terrible things happen in Europe, the Middle & Far East, everywhere. The danger , however is that the so-called civilized nations have humane rights, & lawyers dedicated to helping criminals. Combined, they ensure perverts escape justice.
Anne Wotana Kaye, London, , England
There may have to be a change in privacy laws in Austria, with houses liable to inspection by trained inspectors able to detect such criminal acitivity.
Miland Joshi, Birmingham, UK
As an Englishman living in Vienna, I am amazed to see the British press continuing to stick the knife in to Austria. The horror of the Amstetten case is undeniable and action must be taken to ensure that such an atrocity never occurs again. However attacking a nation as a whole is unwarranted.
Mike Bailey, Vienna, Austria
Lena, the point is he made slaves of his own children - what can this man have been thinking? About Rosemarie: what woman lives in a house for such a long time without going into all parts of it?
Annual cellar inspections should be on the Austrian agenda in the future.
A Stewart, Wellington, New Zealand
As they say, Beethoven was an Austrian and Hitler was a German.
John Roche, Cologny, Switzerland
Sometimes crime is what unites society, boosts social cohesion. Crimes involve breaching acceptable social standards. And if crimes were not committed, we wouldn't know what acceptable social standards are.
Tom Watanabe, London,
'...thousands of women and girls worldwide are probably held as sex slaves prisoned in dungeons somewhere...'
surely not by their own father?
Zing, singapore, singapore
The awful Kampusch story challenges us all. However, writing stories stereotyping Austrians does not meet the challenge.
Don, San Francisco, CA
"I find the Fritzl case so grisly - I’ve read the stuff and wish I hadn’t. The detail is soul-polluting."
I share your view, many I have spoken with have not dared read the details. I have and have felt sick for days. It seems like a new low for modern man.
Rolf Bjork, marbella, Spain
I had a single experience of an Austrian man who put me off Austrians forever. He invited me to lunch and when I arrived 5 minutes late, he had been reading the paper. He put down the paper briefly to say hello, and went on reading it throughout the meal. It was as if I didn't exist. Very weird.
katrina, london,
Anyone working within the UK criminal justice system will tell you we have our share of "grisly" incestous offences. I know of a few -- in only the past 2 years. The Austrian case is merely unique bcos the victims were imprisoned in a house; most victims of incest are prisoners of some sort...
Annie, Cambridge, UK
And what about Switzerland!
Daviddd, sydney, australia
Fritzl applied for permission to build a fall out shelter Remember the Cold War? That accounts for the underground rooms and heavy doors.
As 1000s of Fall out shelters were built in USA perhaps we should start investigations there into what they are used for now.
plato, ely, uk
Fanatical branches of the Muslim religion practices the subjugation of women in many countries, however Governments are too frightened to say anything.
Parts of Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and many others, deny their womenfolk any education, rights or freedom and have to wear sacks!
colin jackson, Leatherhead,
I do not think this news story is a reflection on any one country. More so a reflection of humanity as a whole. Something is missing, people do not want to get involved, human rights abuses, crazy young people toting guns, etc. The list is endless, unfortunately growing. Society is degrading.
NH, Oregon, US
Austria is a highly developed country that gave the world some of the topmost scientists,musicians and psychotherapists. But evil was always there;dark, gloomy and formidable. that the wife of Fritzl was unaware of what went on in her basement is beyond comprehension ,beyond belief.
arindam, kolkata, india
You are barking at the wrong tree...blaming Austria as a nation for these crimes? This must be a purely European thing because it makes no sense to the rest of us that this sort of a behavior is somehow genetic or cultural.
Rithvi, Logan, Nada
What you say might well be correct. However, if anyone were to draw attention to the validity of stereotypes to certain other groups -- say blacks, or Muslims -- there would be a torrent of abuse poured on the author and anyone who even nodded their head. Cultures breed many different behaviours.
Ben, Ottawa, Canada
An excellent essay, but I beg to differ on one point: The story isn't pitch black. Elisabeth Fritzl never gave in completely to the despair to which she was 'entitled' (I would have killed myself after the first month). She did the best she could for her children under appalling circumstances.
Bill, Oakland, Ca.,
Wow such stereotypical rubbish from these comments. Go look at your own nation, real hard,before trying to make something out of this story. We all have bad things happen in our countries - US - u just shoot your kids at schools.
Richard, Plymouth,
I think that the reason that none of this makes sense is that we have got it the wrong way around. I suspect that Fritz is telling the truth and that Elizabeth is lying. Read all the news stories with that thought in mind and it all makes perfect sense.
Arthur, Coventry,
Remember the child snatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang granted not set in Austria, however could it be possible that Felming based his work of fiction on fact, and that this is no new behaviour from our European cousins?
Bert, London, England
Well looks like things haven't changed much since The Sound of Music. Captain Von Trapp and his whistles don't seem like that much of an exaggeration now. Actually if you read the real life story book of the Sound of Music, Von Trapp was not that pleasant in real life either- borderline abusive.
Claudia, Atlanta, USA
You're judging an entire country solely by three news stories and one holiday experience, where nothing out of the ordinary occurred except some circumstantial fancy in your head. Grow up. Bad things happen in all places, there is nothing cultural about this Fritzl story.
David, Tiverton, UK
perfectly right! i write from italy....italy is famuos for mafia...and mafia behaviour is present in italy...even if we are not all men of mafia...
so it's austria...a country with too many ex nazis....too many.
no way to change my opinion about austria...
i'm just sad about other dungeons .....
fabrizio, turin,
Yeah, yeah. The skiing amazing. Is all you need to know.
Redcliffe, London,
Saying Austria is weird because of the N, Kampusch and Fritzl case is just wrong. I am German, living in the UK and I think you have to take into account that thousands of women and girls worldwide are probably held as sexslaves prisoned in dungeons somewhere. Those crimes don't only concern Austria
Lena , Manchester,