articles
China Elevator Stories
Stalking Is Very Common In Relationships
I have observed that stalking is more common in most relationships than people would think.
25/07/2024
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
When I lived in a flat with my brother, sister, and her then-husband after moving to Austria from Germany in 2019, my sister’s former husband was working on opening an Islamic cultural center in a shop he rented downstairs. He was from Turkey and often emphasized that he was a liberal Muslim. He would always leave his shop and turn up in the apartment seconds after I started talking to my sister in the kitchen. He then purposefully stayed in the kitchen with us, preventing my sister and me from talking in private. I don’t know if he was listening in via spyware on her smartphone by turning on her speakers or if he had installed some kind of listening device in the kitchen.
His shop was downstairs, but there was a courtyard separating the shop from the entrance to the apartment building, so what was being said in the kitchen could not be heard from his shop unless he had installed spyware or a listening device in the kitchen. When I looked for such a device in the kitchen after a few of these occurrences, I could find none.
Another sister once told me how her ex-husband would always suddenly turn up wherever she was with their son. One such example was him showing up when they went to a playground near her flat, even though she had not told him where they were going.
A person who isn’t too familiar with stalking may not realize they are being stalked when such incidents occur. However, a thoughtful observer can identify these instances as stalking immediately and take them seriously.
Have you ever been in a relationship where you were being stalked?