Friday, May 02, 2008

Amstetten: What is it about Austrians and dungeons?

AUSTRIA, that lovely little Alpine republic on the banks of the Danube, has a new and deeply lamentable claim to international notoriety: As of this past weekend, we officially lead the free world in the abduction and confinement of young girls in soundproof, subterranean apartments.

The summer before last, we had the bizarre — and, to all appearances, unique — case of Natascha Kampusch, who endured eight years’ confinement in a basement cell built by Wolfgang Priklopil, a former communications technician for Siemens, in the town of Strasshof in the province of Lower Austria.

For a brief moment after Ms. Kampusch’s escape, the eyes of the world were closely trained on Strasshof, as much in admiration of her courage as in horror at her captor’s actions. Scattered references were made to Austria’s history, but not many. The general sense was that this heinous crime could have happened anywhere, not least because it was difficult to think of a situation so grotesque and extreme as being representative of anything whatsoever. Wolfgang Priklopil’s very perversity was, in a sense, the most convincing argument for his uniqueness.

That, however, was before this past weekend. More...

See also: Josef Fritzl, the monster of Amstetten, having fun in Thailand...
And this: The Fritzl family in Amstetten: the children downstairs and the children upstairs...

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