It is believed that the children’s father is a member of the far-right Reichsburger movement and has authored several controversial publications in which he denies the Holocaust.
Six British children were taken into care in Austria when it was discovered that they and their parents were living in an abandoned wine cellar.
According to the police, their father, a 54-year-old Austrian, is a renowned Holocaust denier and member of the far-right Reichsburger movement.
When people in Obritz, near the Czech border, became concerned about the children’s wellbeing, they contacted social services.
However, when they attempted to enter, the father pepper-sprayed them.
A call to the police resulted in the man’s arrest. Since then, he has been released on bail while an investigation is conducted.
The children, ranging in age from seven months to five years, were taken to the hospital with their mother.
Stefan Loidl, a spokesman for the police, stated that they were in good health and had not been neglected.
Currently, the children are being cared for by social services.
The local authorities suspected that the family had been residing in the illegal refuge for some months. But there had been reports about them in the past several weeks.
Erich Greil, the deputy mayor of Orbitz, stated, “The monitoring cameras in front of the cellar were very bothersome, and homeowners occasionally heard children’s voices in the basement; nevertheless, as soon as they arrived, the basement became silent.”
The police stated that there was no evidence of sexual abuse of the minors discovered in the cellar.
Mr. Loidl further stated that a “long rifle, two crossbows, and many compressed air weapons” were discovered in the cellar.
