What is often stated in general about violence against women, naturally also applies to Kassel: Women in heterosexual partnerships experience violence every day, some of them do not survive this. The perpetrators are mostly men. An excerpt from the situation in Kassel provides information about the background and prevention options for violence against women in heterosexual partnerships. *
There are two easy-to-use statistical counts, when it comes to violence and murder of women by theirs (Ex-)Partner goes: On average, one man tries every day in Germany, his (Ex-)Killing partner, on average, a woman dies every three days as a result. These figures are collected annually in the police crime statistics on intimate partner violence. Because there is a high number of unreported cases in this area, Can be assumed, that the number of those, who fall victim to this type of violence, is significantly higher.
Two cases in court in Kassel
Two such cases are currently being heard before the Kassel regional court. So has the end of January 2020 on 33- year old man several times on one 29- year old woman stabbed, after seeing her in her apartment. According to HNA, the perpetrator and victim were a couple and the woman was in the relationship 2015 completed. Since then, the defendant has called her repeatedly and texted her- Messages sent. In the days before the crime, she told him, that she no longer wanted a contract with him.
About the perpetrator said the victim, so the HNA, that he was always jealous in their relationship. The woman survived the attempted murder with life-threatening injuries, was admitted to the hospital and was only able to leave it three and a half months later.
The second case, which is currently being negotiated at the Kassel Regional Court, occurred in August 2019. On 28- According to HNA, the year-old man is said to have come to the bar in Moritzstrasse early in the morning, where his ex-girlfriend worked. After the end of the shift, the woman sat in a minicar, whereupon the man also sat in the car. After the woman got out of the car again, the man wanted to grab the woman's handbag.
The woman did not let go of the handbag, the perpetrator then hit the woman in the face with his fist. The woman fell unconscious to the ground and the perpetrator hit and kicked her further. The HNA writes, that the woman has “numerous fractures in the head- and face area, a cranial brain trauma, Fractures of the jaw and nose and the orbital floor – thus a fracture of the floor of the eye socket towards the maxillary sinus ”suffered. The prosecutor expressed in the criminal case, that the accused was jealous, because the woman was friendly to the visitors while she was working in the bar.
Both cases are united by jealousy, which is acted as a motive for the violence of the perpetrators in the trials. In both cases, women were so abused, that they have suffered serious or life-threatening injuries.
Feminicides have structure
The search for the explanation for it, that a man his (Ex-)Becomes so violent towards your partner, must not stop at the motive of jealousy. So declares the specialist lawyer for criminal- and family law Christina Clemm in an interview with Bayern2RadioWelt: “That is the unconditional claim of men over women. That is a structural problem. […] This is a deep-seated misogyny. That is why we definitely do not speak of “Relationship Acts”, but from “from the femininity”, that is, from the killing of another person because of their female gender. "
Femicides are the extreme form of partnership violence against women. Even with bodily harm, sexual violence and rape, threat, Stalking and coercion within partnerships, the gender-specific distribution is clear: the victims are predominantly female and the perpetrators predominantly male.
In the spring 2020 was at the beginning of the exit restrictions to contain the Corona- Pandemic often pointed out the increased potential of violence in partnerships, when victim and perpetrator live in the same household. A Online- survey of 3800 Women experienced physical violence during the spring exit restrictions 2020 has confirmed this forecast.
The survey showed, that quarantine, Exit restrictions and financial worries due to the Corona- Crisis had a negative impact on the number of cases of domestic violence against women. Short-time work and home office lead to this, that perpetrators and victims are more often at home together and thus the chances of violent attacks increase. Business closures and contact restrictions mean that victims of violence in a partnership are no longer able to evade.
Kassel conditions
On request at the Kassel advice center "Women inform women" (short FiF) says Heike Upmann, that the counseling center was not able to record any statistical increase in partnership violence this year. At the same time, however, it was much more difficult for the women, to reach the counseling center, so Upmann. The staff at the counseling center spoke to women on the phone mainly on Mondays and Fridays. They would often have called while out and about. “Our guess is, that the situation has worsened again, especially on the weekends, if the women don't even use the pretext, Running errands, could leave the house. "
On the question, what from the perspective of FiF- Advice center could be done in terms of urban policy, to support victims of intimate partner violence, replies Upmann: “Above all, there is a lack of safe accommodation for the women. That is why we urgently need many more places in women's shelters and emergency housing. The emergency housing is important for the women, who otherwise would not go to a women's refuge (for example because they cannot take their sons with them or, As a general rule, older children would not go to the women's shelter) and also as a long-term accommodation option. "
According to the advice center, the housing market in Kassel is now so tense, that women would have to spend months looking for their own apartment, especially if the job center pays for the apartment.
Furthermore, there is a need for closer support for the women concerned when dealing with authorities, Appointments with doctors and lawyers. This affects women above all, their knowledge of German (yet) are not sufficient. You are at almost all appointments, But above all, going to the authorities, rely on interpreters. But women too, who speak German fluently, but cannot read or write sufficiently, would face particular difficulties. Many migrant women also need support, to find your way around the local authority structures and processes, says Upmann from FiF.
Even if the causes and conditions for violence against women in heterosexual partnerships are not Kassel- are specific, in terms of urban policy, the situation of women affected could be improved considerably through appropriate measures.
* This article appears on the occasion of the commemoration- and action days to eradicate violence against women on 25.11., which is celebrated annually. Background for the choice of 25.11. for that day was the procrastination, The rape and subsequent murder of the three Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic. This was done on the orders of the dictator Trujillo, against which the three sisters resisted. 1961 Latin American feminists proclaimed this day a day of resistance against violence against women.