📸 50 years of women's house in Germany; A shelter for women and children affected by domestic violence.
Fifty years ago, on November 1, 1976, the first women's home in West Berlin was officially opened. Three months before the opening, even some women and children affected by domestic violence found refuge in this safe house. In the first year of the women's home in Berlin, 615 women and 730 children received shelter and counseling at this home.
There are currently almost 400 women's homes and more than 40 safe shelters in Germany, where 7,000 to 7,700 people can live. It is estimated that between 13,000 and 14,000 women and more than 15,000 children and teenagers use the facilities of the Women's House every year.
The British author and social activist Erin Fizzy is known as the founder of the first shelter for domestic violence in the world. In 1971 she opened a shelter in the Chiswick area of London (Chiswick Women's Aid) for women and children affected by domestic violence, which became a global model.