Doctors nevertheless said that, because of his age, he had the best chance of being integrated into society.Īttempting to sum up the scale of the family's suffering, one commentator asked yesterday: 'How do you greet your brother who you didn't even know existed, and who you have just learned has spent his whole life until now imprisoned in a dark dungeon, only two floors below your own bedroom, locked up by your grandfather, who, you discover, is also your father? He had hardly met any human beings, other than his mother, two siblings and the figures he had seen on television, and was said to have clung to his mother, terrified. While Elisabeth had told the children kept underground of the existence of their siblings who had been snatched from her as babies, those brought up by their grandparents had been under the impression that their mother had abandoned them and joined a sect.įive-year-old Felix, who was born in the cellar and, like the brother and sister he had grown up with, had never seen daylight until three days ago. They cried and didn't want to let each other go,' the psychologist said.

Psychiatrists, neurologists, speech therapists and physiotherapists are among the specialists on hand to aid them back into society, Kepplinger said.Įlisabeth Fritzl and her mother, who were reunited again after 24 years, were said to have 'fallen into each others' arms. So began the long road to recovery for the damaged family, a process that doctors said could take years.

This will help their recovery and we'll try to ensure they stay together from now on.' She remained in a critical state last night.īerthold Kepplinger, head of the clinic in Amstetten, Lower Austria, where the reunion took place and where the family is receiving therapy, said: 'It was astonishing how easy it was. Missing from the encounter was Kerstin, 19, whose hospitalisation 11 days ago led to the unravelling of one of the worst known kidnap and incest cases.

Elisabeth fritzl now