the bearded man in the sky

For Patrice, there is no god and with the breaking of the horrific Josef Fritzl story in a country that is proudly catholic, having once been the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, she cannot believe that anyone there, or anywhere, can remain a believer in the bearded old man in the sky.

“There is no god, but if Elisabeth and her children believe that there is a bearded man up there in the sky," says Patrice, “then I hope he looks down upon them more favorably than he has in the past and does not leave them feeling guilty or responsible in any way for what happened to them and frees them from a mother/grandmother whose emotional influence over them will be as crippling, in its own way, as that of their father/grandfather.”

"I sometimes wonder whether the benign bearded old man in the sky was invented to overcome the evil mother stereotype in real life,” says Patrice, “because that stereotype surely fits Rosemarie Fritzl.”

“If Rosemarie Fritzl hated or feared her husband and was merely forced by her circumstances (seven babies and no single parent benefits in 1967) to stick with him -- then she would have left him immediately the children grew up, like I did, wouldn't she?" asks Patrice. “So, do we assume that she loved him passionately and would stay with him no matter what -- in which case are we likely to hear soon that she will defend him as a dutiful, loving wife to the end of his days, make excuses for him, and maintain a vigil outside the prison in which he is incarcerated?”

"Alternatively, love him or hate him, was she completely downtrodden by patriarchal Austrian society dominated by the bearded man in the sky to expect anything better for herself and children?” asks Patrice. “Perhaps in 1967, but surely not after 1984 (unless, of course, what the papers are saying about incest, wife-domination and sex slaves in dungeons is true of most Austrian men, in which case the world should demand right now that all cellars in Austria be regularly inspected)."

"Or, is she mentally defective -- as thick as a plank -- incapable of sweeping a floor without instruction from a man, bearded or not?”

“In deep respect for Elisabeth Fritzl and her children, whose survival of such an ordeal may have been possible by belief in a bearded man in the sky, I hope that he gives her more strength than ever to cope with the difficult times ahead coming to terms with the betrayals and depravities of her family and allows her – as her family didn’t – to break ties and start a new independent life as far away from them as possible.”