When men kill their wife, partner or ex-partner, they do so most often with a knife and in the place where the women live.
This result comes from a comprehensive data analysis by the “Stern” magazine. A reporter team has requested court rulings for all publicly disclosed cases from 2024 – and evaluated 57 of them. These are currently the most up‑to‑date and comprehensive facts available nationwide on the subject.
Accordingly, the most dangerous place for women is their own home. In 45 of the 57 cases in which a verdict was rendered, the women were murdered in their own or a shared apartment or house. Three women were killed where the perpetrator or alleged perpetrator lived. And by far the most frequently used weapon was a knife: in 37 of the 57 cases. Firearms were used in only two cases: a crossbow and a pistol.
The age of the perpetrators ranged from 18 to 76 years, while the victims’ ages ranged from 18 to 84. Notably, a disproportionately high number of convicted men were of migrant background. In 25 of the 57 cases, the perpetrators were migrants, most commonly from Romania, followed by Turkey.
Similar circumstances apply to the women who were killed. The proportion of foreign victims was above average when measured against the overall population. Experts attribute the clustering of migrant victims to the fact that these women are more likely to be dependent on their partners and face greater difficulties in accepting help – partly due to language barriers.
The cases reviewed from 2024, according to “Stern” mainly suggest a motive of a break‑up trigger: it appears that the woman’s separation from the partner is often the trigger. Slightly less often, there were indications that the man viewed his wife as his possession or killed her out of jealousy or resentment.
