Austrian dungeon keeper

Walter Hinteler did start a thread on the topic. As for what the world may think about it, i couldn't say. Personally, it was simply another reminder to me that people are nutty and dangerous--but i didn't attach any significance to the fact that it happened to have occurred in Austria.

I don't understand that. This case is about one deranged man who did unspeakable things to this daughter and children. Why is the world is the chancellor being defensive, and concerned about the country's "reputation"???

Seems to me that there was another Austrian who caused lots more damage than this one wingnut did!

There is a saying, Phoenix, that the genius of the Austrians is that they have convinced the world that Hitler was a German, and that Beethoven was an Austrian.

Chancellor Gusenbauer should be replaced. He is indeed not the right man for this position. I do not think that the countrys people are to blame for fritzl's crime.

No one in Austria really thinks that a correction of the nations image is necessary. People from abroad who live in Austria also said in tv-interviews that such an incident could have happened anywhere.

Crazy people live all around the world. I guess it is really difficult to avoid their crimes when they are intelligent.

Maybe your chancellor was worried about the tourist trade, which i believe is important in Austria . . . no? Anyway, i don't recall that anyone around here suggested that it was a demonstration of a flaw in the Austrian character; rather, people just treated it as one more creep who finally got caught.

Your avatar picture, is that from 2001, A Space Odyssey?

Tourist trade..

Heck if American's will stop to take pictures of a bathroom where someone (a US senator) claimed to have a "wide stance." they will flock to see the little room where a madman kept his daughter.

Because this comes less than two years after Austria's last famous case of a woman being kept for years in a cellar and the victim in that case, Natascha Kampusch, has reached out to the families of this case thusly connecting the circumstantial dots a bit.

When she did so, a fleeting "what the hell is going on in Austria!" thought came to my head too.

But to answer the question, no I don't think any differently of Austria for these cases. But having two such spectacularly rare and spectacularly shocking cases in less than a year did make me at least give me pause.

That it can happen once is shocking enough, but two in the last two years in one country is going to make people associate Austria with this kind of thing a bit (since for most people those two things are the only news they remember about Austria in a decade). I get why he's doing damage control and sympathize with Austria. It's going to have a small branding effect.

Yes of course. The film is ok, though the book is incredible.
It was one of the first books I read in English language.

But back to the original topic.
Yes, I also think that Gusenbauer worried about Austria's image in the world because of tourism's importance.
However, I think he should have found another words.

What set said: I've started a thread about this topic some time ago (here).