Fritzl Children Send Messages Of Love, Hope And Thanks

Amstetten, Austria, (AHN) -- The Fritzl children are expressing their thanks to the public and hopes for the future after they were freed from the cellar where their father/grandfather kept them imprisoned.

In the case that horrified the world, Josep Fritzl was found to have forced his 18-year-old daughter Elisabeth into a secret cellar underneath their Austrian home and kept her there for 24 years, continually raping her. Elisabeth eventually gave birth to seven children, one of whom died in infancy.

Fritzl raised three of the children with his wife, telling family members they were left on the doorstep by Elisabeth, who he said had run away. The daughter and three of the children were left in the basement dungeon with their mother, never seeing natural light or breathing fresh air.

Fritzl was caught last month after one of the children who'd been living in the basement was admitted to the hospital. Hospital personnel found a note in one of her pockets, written by Elisabeth, pleading for help. The 19-year-old daughter Kerstin remains in a coma.

Fritzl was arrested and the rest of the family has been reunited while authorities continue to investigate.

The wife and children of Friztl are being closely monitored by psychiatrists and social workers. They are trying to figure out the best course of treatment for a family that has lived very different lives even though they technically all shared the same home.

The children and their mother and grandmother made a poster that has been hung in the town square in their hometown as a reaction to the love and caring they say the public has shown.

The poster shows the traced-hands of four of the siblings as well as Elisabeth's and the Grandmother's, Rosemarie. The handprints are filled with messages of hope and love written in Austrian.

The Daily Mail translated the messages as saying the following: "We, the whole family, would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for sympathy at our fate."

Elisabeth: 'I wish my daughter Kerstin to recover. I love that child. Protection of the family, people with much heart and understanding"

Felix: "I like driving in the car, playing ball, swimming, playing with children, friendship and running."

Alexander: "I miss the fire brigade, school and my sister Kerstin."

Monika: "I hope Kerstin becomes healthy, much love."

Rosemarie (Oma): "I wish myself that I with my children may live in peace."

Lisa: "Good health to all, for good love, luck. Kerstin, school, friends, nature."

There does not seem to be a message from the oldest boy, Stephan, 18 who was locked in the cellar with siblings Felix and Kerstin.

According to The Daily Mail, the head of the clinic where the family is staying, Berthold Kepplinger, said those kept as prisoner in the cellar will need many more months of therapy to adjust to things like open-spaces and bright light.