It is widespread worldwide and it usually happens in the most protected space, your own four walls: violence against your partner. In the majority of cases, women are the victims. In Bavaria alone, more than 19,200 cases of domestic violence against women were reported in 2021. In 67 cases, the violence ended fatally. In all of Germany, it has been proven that 139 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2020 – mathematically, there is a femicide every third day in Germany.
On Friday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, also known as “Orange Day”, activists around the world drew attention to this shocking fact. In Unterföhring, men and women wrote messages in bright orange spray paint on the sidewalks in the town center. “You should literally stumble over the information,” Tanja Gernet from the Working Group of Social Democratic Women (AsF) explains the ulterior motive. On the one hand, the initiators want to clarify these crimes, on the other hand, women threatened by violence should be shown places they can turn to.
To stumble over: activists on Friday afternoon on the sidewalk in front of the Unterföhring town hall applying the slogans with spray chalk.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Arno Helfrich from Ismaning heads the Commissioner for Victim Protection at the Munich Police Headquarters and supports the work of the “One Billion Rising” association. The association is once again drawing attention to the problem this year with its “Violence doesn’t come in the bag” campaign for “Orange Day” on bakery bags. Helfrich encourages women and girls not to hesitate and call the police in an emergency.
In the district of Munich, victims of domestic violence are also supported by the intervention center of the district of Munich (ILM). The staff at the intervention center can be reached to arrange appointments for free and, if desired, anonymous advice Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the telephone number 089/62 21 12 21 or at any time by e-mail to [email protected]. More information is available on the website www.interventionsstelle-landkreis-muenchen.de. The nationwide “Violence against Women” help line can be reached around the clock on 08000/11 60 16.