The thought has crossed my mind more times than I care to remember concerning the contributing factors that caused an Austrian woman to descend into such depravity in the pursuit of David Caruso's attention. Was Gabriele Huber the victim of child abuse? Was a lack of maternal bonding responsible? Lacking a background in psychology, these questions have gone largely unanswered. Until now.
With the revelation over this past weekend that an Austrian citizen, Josef Fritzl, had raped and imprisoned his own daughter for 24 years, revealing editorials have addressed the topic of Austrian society in general and the role it played in this tragedy.
Think about it. What mental images are formed whenever someone mentions Austria? More than likely they are images of an alpine country much like the one portrayed in the film, The Sound of Music. A country where quaint European villages dot the mountain valleys and in the spring, foothills are filled with wildflowers while winter conjures visions of snowy villages. Scenes reminiscent of those portrayed on holiday cards. As with most societies, there is more than meets the eye in Austria and sometimes what goes on behind the scenes paints an otherwise very distorted picture.
Here are a few excerpts from an eye-opening editorial that appeared in the UK's "TimesOnline," titled " Austria: ‘We have to ask what’s going wrong’:"
"Austria is — as is clear from the appalling F [Fritzl] family saga, from the case of the “girl in the cellar” Natascha Kampusch and from the 1996 case of Maria K, who was locked in a coffin-like wooden chest — a “look-away” society.
What society would accept the probability of three children being left on the doorstep of Josef F over a decade and grant him adoption rights without inquiring after the location of the mother? Perhaps only a cosy, incurious community concerned with Schein nicht Sein, or “appearance, not reality”. [Maybe, the same society that has allowed Gabriele Huber to flee justice.]
Whatever the truth in the Amstetten house [Josef Fritzl's residence], it is the interlocking circles of secrecy that make Austria special in the way that it deals with, or ignores, individual tragedies.
Every Austrian town has its hierarchies and codes. Did leaving Mr F [or in the case of David Caruso's stalker, Gabriele Huber] in peace form part of this code of discretion? It is difficult to believe that he [or Gabriele Huber] acted without the knowledge of others. Either way, [Gabriele Huber's] crime [has been] made possible by a society that is inclined to look away rather than experience discomfort." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3835616.ece Gabriele Huber is Austrian and by association a by-product of the same society that created the Fritzl monster. “How is it possible that nobody heard or saw anything, that nobody asked questions?” The very same questions can be posed about the David Caruso stalker case.
Additional similarities in how Austria deals with its criminal problems can also be drawn when nearly two weeks have passed without Austrian authorities capturing Gabriele Huber who has threatened to murder an American actor. It's very simple in the eyes of the Austrians, adopt the "look-away" strategy.
