As of: February 10, 2024, 8:43 a.m
By: Dominik Stallein
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Women who are victims of domestic violence often suffer from trauma and fear.
A club from Wolfratshausen is trying to support them in making a new start.
© DPA
For women in need: The association that runs the women's shelter in the district not only brings victims to safety - it also helps with the next steps.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - The women's shelter is a place where no one wants to end up.
And above all, no one wants to stay there for long.
The house, whose exact location only the operator and residents are allowed to know, is not designed for this.
Nevertheless, the women and their children spend, on average, much more time in the short-term hostel than they would like.
One reason is the rental market in the region: living space is scarce and cheap housing is almost impossible to find.
A new beginning without violence: This is difficult for victims - an association from Wolfratshausen is helping
The women's shelter in the district is run by the Wolfratshauser “Women Helping Women” association.
The employees are working on the attack.
The house had to reject 75 women last year because they had no space available.
On the one hand, because there are so many requests.
On the other hand, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to place the women who have been taken in into their own apartment.
This is an important goal of the initiative.
“We want to help them make a new start,” says club boss Nicoline Pfeiffer.
And don't just offer a stopover.
Women's shelter in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district: The path is difficult for victims of domestic violence
Most of the residents of the women's shelter have completely separated themselves from their previous lives and not only left the violent man, but also their circle of friends and (if any) their job.
Almost everyone receives unemployment benefits and would be dependent on housing subsidies.
“Actually, it doesn’t get much safer for a landlord,” says Pfeiffer.
Still, the conditions are causing skepticism among some owners.
“We often don’t even get a viewing appointment,” says project manager Jasmin Riedmeier.
And even if a rental agreement is concluded, single mothers or solo women still need support for the first few meters.
“It’s a new beginning for them after they’ve already given up everything – they hope it’s the last,” says Nicoline Pfeiffer.
The head of the Women Helping Women Association knows of many cases in which the victims waited for months to be able to start again in a safe environment.
With the second stage program, the association's employees want to offer help.
Her protégés need her urgently, because the life they will soon want to lead is completely different than the one they know.
“They come from a place of constant fear,” says Pfeiffer.
And partly from social isolation.
Leaving a women's shelter: "You have to learn to stand on your own two feet again"
The next step worries some of those affected.
Riedmeier: “They have to leave their protected area in the women’s shelter and learn to stand on their own two feet again,” after the traumatic experiences.
The Second Stage program therefore not only helps with the search for an apartment, with the application folder and discussions with a future tenant.
The association accompanies the women in their everyday lives even after they have moved out of the facility.
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Around ten percent of the program is funded by the Free State of Bavaria.
The initiators have to finance the rest of the costs.
The program requires donations of around 10,000 euros annually.
These funds make the first success stories possible.
New beginnings for women and families: “Women helping women”
A mother of two, for example, who came to the women's shelter without a job, frightened and with huge worries about the future and is now leading a new life with a new job and a rented apartment.
“The project succeeded in giving women a new beginning,” says Riedmeier in an interview with our newspaper.
The former women's shelter resident "now lives independently - and free from violence and fear".
What is self-evident for most people is something that some families first have to work for - supported by the Wolfratshauser Women's Help Association.