Would you write a book with Josef Fritzl? This is why this woman did
The man who imprisoned and raped his daughter for 24 years is eligible for parole aged 88. He has written a memoir that his representative has worked into her own book about him
Josef Fritzl abducted his daughter Elisabeth in the 1980s, imprisoned her beneath their home and raped her repeatedly
ROBERT JAEGER/POOL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Last summer Astrid Wagner, an Austrian author and criminal defence lawyer, received a memoir in the post, densely typed on 226 pages of prison notepaper.
The author’s name was Josef Fritzl. In the 1980s he abducted his daughter Elisabeth, imprisoned her in the concealed basement of his family home and repeatedly raped her over 24 years.
She gave birth to seven of his children, one of whom died three days after birth through neglect, while three others were raised in captivity, where he often denied them light or food by way of punishment for perceived disobedience.
All the while Fritzl’s wife Rosemarie lived in the same home, apparently oblivious to the horrors beneath her feet, persuaded that Elisabeth had joined a cult and convinced that