Does the visible women’s shelter in the Würzburg district fail?

“A visible women’s refuge can more easily be the target of a violent aggressor.”

Jürgen Maier, chief of police in Ochsenfurt–

Johannes Streib, deputy head of the fight against crime at the police headquarters in Lower Franconia, had already voiced his concerns in July. Women could be less protected in a visible women’s refuge, he explained. In contrast, the address of the two houses in Würzburg is unknown.

CSU parliamentary group leader Jungbauer speaks out in favor of social housing

Jürgen Maier, head of the responsible police station in Ochsenfurt, underlines the opinion of his colleague. “A visible women’s shelter is nonetheless more at risk than an anonymous one,” he says in an interview with this editorial team. Basically he has no concerns about a visible women’s refuge, “but not in this place”. Because Giebelstadt cannot be compared with Würzburg or Ochsenfurt, because there is on average more police presence in the two cities than in the 5000-inhabitant community. “A visible women’s refuge can more easily be the target of a violent aggressor because he knows the location,” Maier is convinced.

This is how CSU parliamentary group leader Björn Jungbauer sees it: “Security is the basis for a women’s refuge.” In the district committee, the former police officer again spoke out in favor of taking the second step – namely, creating social living space for the women. The district still has two million euros left over from the capital cost allocation for the construction of the waste-to-energy plant. “We have built a swimming pool from one half, with the other half we can create social housing,” he demanded on Thursday.

But then, as Christine Haupt-Kreutzer argues against it, “we would abandon any woman who does not want to go to an anonymous women’s shelter because she does not want to separate from her children”. With the concept of the visible women’s refuge in the country, the district policy would also contribute to the safety of women. “The police cannot prove that a visible women’s shelter in a residential area is particularly at risk.”

District Administrator Eberth is disappointed with the funding rejection from Munich

In fact, there is not yet a women’s refuge with an open address in a small rural community, added District Administrator Eberth. That is why he wanted to have it funded as a pilot project. The rejection had already hit him, he said. Eberth does not want to persuade the police officers now, but instead wants to talk to them about how the security concerns can be dispelled. District councilor Sven Winzenhörlein (Bündnis90 / Die Grünen) does not want to overestimate the opinion of the police. “We shouldn’t weigh the concerns of the police higher than the side of the porter,” he said. He is referring to the head of the SKF women’s shelter in Würzburg, Franziska Boes. At the district assembly in July, she said that in Giebelstadt the objective safety of the residents and their children was ensured.

There are women’s shelters with open addresses, for example, in Germering near Munich or in Lübeck. “There is already a certain infrastructure in these cities. You can’t compare that with Giebelstadt,” says Jürgen Maier. He would appreciate it if politicians could now find a sensible option without incurring the price of a risk. This is what District Administrator Eberth plans to do before he goes back to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the cost bearers. Because, without the participation of the city of Würzburg and the districts of Main-Spessart and Kitzingen, which are already financially involved in the women’s shelters, the district politics does not want to go it alone.