'The Fritzl case is unique so we really don't know the outcome. 'We have to be careful because it is easy to create a victimhood in society and we forget that people, children included, can be very resilient and recover from terrible events. Dr Martin Ward-Platt, a consultant paediatrician from Newcastle, told the Standard: 'The psychological damage far outweighs the physical damage. Felix, the youngest child, needed goggles to cope with the bright sunlight when first released but has since been described by those who have witnessed him playing outdoors as like a 'spring lamb or a puppy, exuberant and joyful at being alive'.įelix, who would have been least aware of what went on below ground, has perhaps the best chance of coming out of this 'intact'. She is close to Stefan and the older children receive schooling at home. Kerstin, whose organ failure caused by poor diet and lack of medication, triggered their release, is now out of hospital and reunited with her mother and siblings. They suffered from a poor diet, vitamin deficiencies caused by a lack of sunlight and years spent breathing foetid, damp air. One source said: 'They are polite and kind to their siblings they never knew but it is like the relationship of a child whose father returns after 20 years at sea they are strangers.'įor the cellar children, the physical affects of their captivity are receding. Consequently they are said to feel injured that they were forced out of school, upset at being called 'incest bastards' by playground bullies, and devastated they could no longer go to their usual clubs and after-school activities. They were plucked out of the cellar as babies and never knew the darkness, the sliding back of the door, and the lights going out signalling a rape was about to take place.

The 'upstairs' children are said to resent aspects of their new life. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.

Elisabeth fritzl now children