In Germany, 155 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2023, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

Lawyer Corrina Wehran-Itschert remembers the case of a woman with several small children. Despite restraining orders, her husband stalked her for more than two years following their separation. "The man ambushed her in her entryway and killed her. That was awful," Wehran-Itschert said.

Diana B. (name changed) is one of Wehran-Itschert's clients. She told DW that her husband had repeatedly threatened to kill her. She wants to do everything to stop him finding her. For years he beat her, choked her and in the end severely injured her. Because there were no previous reports against him, the courts considered him a first-time offender and imposed only a suspended sentence.

Diana B. has built a new life for herself and her children in a new location. She survived — hundreds of other women did not.

"If women are killed because they are women, we need to call these crimes what they are: femicide," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said. The politician from the Social Democrats (SPD) emphasized: "These femicides must not be trivialized as so-called relationship tragedies or jealousy dramas." In Germany, femicide is not categorized as a criminal offense — perpetrators are charged with murder or manslaughter.

German Family Minister Lisa Paus said recently: "Two femicides in Berlin per week — every second day a woman in Germany is murdered by her partner or ex-partner. That concerns and angers me greatly." The Green advocates that "we not only need security measures against terrorists who attack people with knives, but also for the prevention and protection of women........

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