"I'm calling ... Now!!!" - This sentence marks the end of the Thuringia-wide campaign by the 19 Thuringian equal opportunities officers on the occasion of the Day against Violence against Women. For 10 days, 18 municipal equal opportunities officers, together with the regional networks against domestic violence and state equal opportunities officer Gabi Ohler, provided information on more than 80 counseling services in Thuringia. People affected by violence and those around them were to find out about counseling options on specific topics. These were publicized with their contact details, for example to women's shelters and victim protection facilities.

Throughout Thuringia, the campaign was supported by 22 mayors, district administrators, mayors, department heads and heads of administration.
managers in the administrations.

Today, on International Day against Violence against Women (November 25, 2022), State Equal Opportunities Commissioner Gabi Ohler came to Gera on behalf of all other participating regions. Here she met Gera's Lord Mayor Julian Vonarb, the Head of the Department for Youth and Social Affairs Sandra Wanzar and visited the GeSa intervention center, which works for six Thuringian regions in providing specialist advice after police interventions in cases of domestic violence. 

The regional equal opportunities officers from Weimarer Land, Martin Reinhardt, from Saale-Holzland-Kreis, Silva Fricke, from Gera, Catrin Heinrich, as well as members of the Gera network against domestic violence were also present on behalf of all the regions involved in the campaign.

Every hour, a woman is dangerously injured by her (ex-) partner; in Germany, a woman still dies every third day as a result of domestic violence. Women in separation situations are particularly at risk. (Source: BKA, Criminalistic evaluation of partner violence 2020)

Gabi Ohler, State Equal Opportunities Commissioner, said in Gera: "It is important to me that the support system against violence against women works even more closely together and becomes better known to those affected. No woman should be left without help if she experiences violence! That's why I was happy to support this campaign. Our work is not limited to November 25, but is an effort that we have been pursuing for many years and will continue to do so in the future. Today is an important sign that Thuringia is standing together here. It is also very important to emphasize this: Women often feel unjustly responsible for the violence they experience. They are not to blame for the acts of violence!"

Gera's Lord Mayor Julian Vonarb added: "When it comes to violence, a 'case' is not just a case. It is always about specific people with pain, suffering and often too little strength to get out of it. Over 600,000 opportunities to access advice services were reached. Many thanks to everyone for this Thuringia-wide collaboration on this important topic and the shared message."

Sandra Wanzar, Head of Gera's Youth and Social Affairs Department, said: "Violence prevention and help for those affected must become even more prominent in the public consciousness. With the symposium on the Istanbul Convention in September 2022, further steps were taken, including for the integration of violence prevention and help to reduce violence in the updating of the city of Gera's integrated social planning."

More info: www.handle-jetzt.de

For this initiative, the following have joined forces for the first time in this form:

The Thuringian Commissioner for Gender Equality and 18 municipal gender equality officers from the cities and districts of: Apolda, Eisenach, Gera, Greiz district, Ilmenau, Ilm district, Jena, Kyffhäuserkreis, Mühlhausen, Nordhausen, Rudolstadt, Saale-Holzland district, Saalfeld, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district, Sondershausen, Wartburgkreis, Weimar and Weimarer Land district. They worked together with the Gera-based company Gera-Web GmbH to create the graphic design for the campaign.

Together, the cities and districts with their networks and the state equal opportunities officer Gabi Ohler say: "No violence! Get help from one of the many advice and support centers in Thuringia"

Apolda

Mayor Rüdiger Eisenbrand

Eisenach

Mayor Katja Wolf

Gera

Lord Mayor Julian Vonarb

Head of Youth and Social Affairs - Sandra Wanzar

Ilm district

District Administrator Petra Enders

Ilmenau

Lord Mayor Dr. Daniel Schultheiß, Mayoress Beate Misch

Jena

Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche

Head of Social Affairs - Eberhard Hertzsch

Kyffhäuserkreis

District Administrator Antje Hochwind-Schneider

Head of Social Affairs, Youth, Health and Labor Sabine Bräunicke

Mühlhausen

Lord Mayor Dr. Johannes Bruns

Nordhausen

Lord Mayor Kai Buchmann

Rudolstadt

Mayor Jörg Reichl

Saale-Holzland district

District Administrator Andreas Heller

Head of Department for Social Affairs, Youth and Health Kathrin Nestler

Saalfeld

Mayor Dr. Steffen Kania

District of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt

District Administrator Marko Wolfram

Sondershausen

Mayor Steffen Grimm

Head of Department Children, Youth and Sport Mareen Biedermann

Wartburg district

District Administrator Reinhard Krebs

Weimar