Thurgau abuse survivors must cross cantonal borders for shelter

Women and children fleeing domestic violence in Thurgau have to seek refuge outside the canton, which has no women’s shelter. SRF reports that activists and politicians are pressing for one to be opened.

Katharina, whose real name has been withheld, left her husband after 19 years together. She told SRF’s Rundschau that he humiliated and psychologically abused her and had sex with her against her will. “I let myself be raped,” she said, describing how he often refused to accept no. She said he would tell her, “When a woman says no, she means yes.”

Katharina said she tried to shield their two sons from what was happening. Her former husband had repeatedly threatened suicide and said he would kill the whole family, she said. One morning, she took the boys by taxi to a women’s shelter in Winterthur, across the cantonal border. “We’re going now, to a safe place,” she told them.

Thurgau, with more than 300,000 residents, is the most populous Swiss canton without a women’s shelter. Under an agreement, it sends women and children seeking protection to the shelter in Winterthur. Last year, the canton handled requests for accommodation for 25 women and 27 children. Women’s shelters across eastern Switzerland, including Zurich, were at an average occupancy rate of 89 per cent in 2025.

Katharina remembers a staff member telling her on her first evening at the shelter: “Now it’s about you. Now you matter.” She was nearly 50 and said it was the first time she had heard those words. She would have preferred to stay in Thurgau, she said, so her children could return sooner to their familiar surroundings and school class.

The Feminist Strike Collective Thurgau has spent months calling for a shelter in the canton, organising demonstrations and vigils. More than 16,000 people have signed its petition. In the cantonal parliament, the SP, Greens, Centre/EVP, Green Liberals and FDP have backed a shelter or called on the government to review the situation.

After leaving the shelter, Katharina had to find a job and a home. She is now employed and divorced. Her former husband declined to comment when approached by Rundschau. Katharina said leaving and starting over was “the best decision of my life.”