Women and children die in the name of love. In their own home. Next to the person who swore to protect them.

The aggressor does not come with the face of an aggressor. He comes with promises. With jealousy called care. With control called love. With fists called correction. That is exactly why this violence is the hardest to see and the hardest to stop.

In 2018, Alessandra Stoicescu and Fundația Mereu Aproape brought to the steps of the National Museum of History a simple and radical gesture: red shoes, a symbol of solidarity with the victims of domestic violence. Romania saw them. Photographed them. Shared them.

And continued to lose its women and children.

In 2026, the red shoes return. On the steps of the Romanian Athenaeum. Not because nothing has changed, but precisely because, although everything seemed to be changing, inside Romania’s homes things remained the same.

Eight years. The same outcome:

Over 500 women killed by their partners in the last decade
One woman every week dies in her own home, killed by the person she was sleeping next to
7 minor children lost their lives in 2025 because of domestic violence, killed by the parent who should have protected them

The victims are not statistics. They are mothers. They are daughters. They are children who did not get the chance to grow up. All of them died in the name of something that was called love.

March 31, Romanian Athenaeum, the day’s program:

Between 15:00 and 18:30, the red shoes are placed on the steps of the Athenaeum. Each pair carries a story: a woman who lived in fear, a child who grew up in terror, a victim who did not get the chance to be saved. You are invited to bring a pair of red shoes as a sign of solidarity, respect, or remembrance for a woman in your life, in your family or community. In this way, the signal becomes harder to ignore, because each pair brought means one more voice saying clearly: I no longer accept silence.

At 19:00, Shero Talk with Father Vasile Ioana. A dialogue without euphemisms about the violence that survives the law, the one hidden in language, in mentality, in the complicit silence of those around. About how we recognize false love. And about what we do when we see it in others.

The red shoes are not nostalgia. They are not decoration.

They are the memory of women who believed love would protect them. Of children who did not understand why it hurt. Of all those to whom society said too late: we believe you.

Real love does not hurt. It does not control. It does not kill.
Love does not leave bruises. Not on women. Not on children.

Event details:

Location: Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest
Date: March 31, 2026
Time: 15:00 to 18:30, shoes on the steps, 19:00 Shero Talk
Tickets: BLT.ro, the full ticket price is directed toward funds that support the project’s causes