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Dr. Jane Freeland: Gender and Domestic Violence in Divided Germany: Marriage, Divorce and Women's Shelters

The first women’s shelter opened in Germany in 1976 in West Berlin. Initiated by a group of feminist activists, the shelter was run as a pilot project for addressing domestic violence in the Federal Republic. But it was not until the week before German reunification in 1990 that a women’s shelter opened in Leipzig, then East Germany. In the intervening twenty-four years between 1976 and 1990, domestic violence activism became firmly entrenched in West Germany. Shelters spread throughout the state, and support for addressing domestic abuse was taken up across the political spectrum. The success of this feminist activism is evident in the relatively seamless path that establishing shelters took in East Germany. Domestic violence projects in the (former) East Germany quickly found political support, as activists were able to draw on the expertise of feminists from the West and capitalize on the transition from divided to reunified state. Bookended by 1976 and 1989/90, this paper examines the ways in which activists across the Cold War divide forged support for their shelter project. Specifically, it argues that support for addressing domestic violence went hand-in-hand with processes (especially in the media) that worked to naturalize gender hierarchies, while simultaneously supporting women’s rights.