Friedrich Wedeking
Quick Facts
Biography
German supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from Germany who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. As of January 2015, the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 59 German supercentenarians, including 49 residents and 10 emigrants. There are currently at least 4 Germans known to be alive over age 110. The oldest German is Katharina Hagemeyer, born 4 August 1908, aged 111 years, 292 days living in North Rhine-Westphalia. Augusta Holtz, an emigrant to the United States, was the oldest German citizen whose age was validated; she lived 115 years and 79 days, from 1871 to 1986.
100 oldest known Germans
Deceased Living
Rank | Name | Sex | Birth date | Death date | Age | Place of birth | Place of death or residence |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Augusta Holtz | F | 3 August 1871 | 21 October 1986 | 115 years, 79 days | Posen | United States |
02 | Charlotte Benkner | F | 16 November 1889 | 14 May 2004 | 114 years, 180 days | Saxony | United States |
03 | Gustav Gerneth | M | 15 October 1905 | 22 October 2019 | 114 years, 7 days | Pomerania | Saxony-Anhalt |
04 | Luzia Mohrs | F | 23 March 1904 | 16 October 2017 | 113 years, 207 days | Rhineland | Brazil |
05 | Louise Schaaf | F | 16 October 1906 | 25 April 2020 | 113 years, 192 days | Baden | United States |
06 | Adelheid Kirschbaum | F | 29 September 1883 | 21 December 1996 | 113 years, 83 days | Rhineland | United States |
07 | Mathilde Mange | F | 10 August 1906 | 28 October 2019 | 113 years, 79 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
08 | Maria Laqua | F | 12 February 1889 | 9 February 2002 | 112 years, 362 days | Rhineland | Rhineland-Palatinate |
09 | Rosa Rein | F | 24 March 1897 | 14 February 2010 | 112 years, 327 days | Silesia | Switzerland |
10 | Lydia Smuda | F | 6 November 1906 | 6 June 2019 | 112 years, 212 days | Rhineland | Hamburg |
11 | Frieda Szwillus | F | 30 March 1902 | 21 September 2014 | 112 years, 175 days | Anhalt | Saxony |
12 | Marguerite Petit | F | 5 July 1883 | 21 December 1995 | 112 years, 171 days | Lorraine | France |
13 | Berta Rosenberg | F | 5 September 1896 | 28 January 2009 | 112 years, 145 days | Hesse-Nassau | United States |
14 | Gertrud Henze | F | 8 December 1901 | 22 April 2014 | 112 years, 135 days | Pomerania | Lower Saxony |
15 | Edelgard Huber von Gersdorff | F | 7 December 1905 | 9 April 2018 | 112 years, 123 days | Reuss-Gera | Baden-Württemberg |
16 | Therese Fenners | F | 8 March 1906 | 23 June 2018 | 112 years, 107 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
17 | Elisabeth Tränkner | F | 11 August 1906 | 7 November 2018 | 112 years, 88 days | Hesse-Nassau | Baden-Württemberg |
18 | Meta Berndt | F | 9 November 1889 | 28 December 2001 | 112 years, 49 days | Pomerania | North Rhine-Westphalia |
19 | Johanna Klink | F | 17 January 1903 | 20 February 2015 | 112 years, 34 days | Silesia | Saxony |
20 | Irmgard von Stephani | F | 20 September 1895 | 5 October 2007 | 112 years, 15 days | Hesse-Nassau | Berlin |
21 | Katherine Bodenbender | F | 19 April 1905 | 16 April 2017 | 111 years, 362 days | Hesse-Nassau | United States |
22 | Katharina Hagemeyer | F | 4 August 1908 | Living | 111 years, 292 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
23 | Lina Zimmer | F | 20 November 1892 | 28 August 2004 | 111 years, 282 days | Württemberg | Baden-Württemberg |
24 | Hermann Dörnemann | M | 27 May 1893 | 2 March 2005 | 111 years, 279 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
25 | Helen Johnson | F | 20 July 1896 | 17 April 2008 | 111 years, 272 days | Brandenburg | United States |
26 | Charlotte Klamroth | F | 18 August 1903 | 16 May 2015 | 111 years, 271 days | Prussian Saxony | Rhineland-Palatinate |
27 | Adele Rodenstein | F | 3 September 1908 | Living | 111 years, 262 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
28 | Magdalene Regener | F | 5 March 1891 | 19 November 2002 | 111 years, 259 days | Hesse-Nassau | Lower Saxony |
29 | Pauline Raißle | F | 16 December 1905 | 29 August 2017 | 111 years, 256 days | Württemberg | Baden-Württemberg |
30 | Catherine Trompeter | F | 26 March 1895 | 18 November 2006 | 111 years, 237 days | Alsace | France |
31 | Elisabeth Heck | F | 11 July 1893 | 3 February 2005 | 111 years, 207 days | Baden | Hesse |
32 | Josefine Ollmann | F | 11 November 1908 | Living | 111 years, 193 days | Bavaria | Schleswig-Holstein |
33 | Paula Baumgärtner | F | 16 August 1881 | 24 February 1993 | 111 years, 192 days | Westphalia | Baden-Württemberg |
34 | Adele Ziegenhagel | F | 12 July 1906 | 10 January 2018 | 111 years, 182 days | (unknown) | Rhineland-Palatinate |
35 | Margarete Ottmann | F | 23 February 1903 | 17 August 2014 | 111 years, 175 days | Silesia | Bavaria |
Ilse Beck | F | 5 October 1906 | 29 March 2018 | Saxony | Thuringia | ||
37 | Elisabeth Schneider | F | 19 August 1901 | 9 February 2013 | 111 years, 174 days | Westphalia | Lower Saxony |
38 | Frieda Borchert | F | 5 January 1897 | 22 June 2008 | 111 years, 169 days | Pomerania | Berlin |
39 | Anna Mehlberg | F | 2 December 1906 | 16 May 2018 | 111 years, 165 days | Brandenburg | Berlin |
40 | Anna Küpper | F | 29 December 1908 | Living | 111 years, 145 days | Rhineland | Rhineland-Palatinate |
41 | Rosa Rose | F | 4 December 1903 | 25 April 2015 | 111 years, 142 days | Hanover | Lower Saxony |
42 | Karolina Krüger | F | 17 February 1885 | 3 July 1996 | 111 years, 137 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
43 | Katharina Braun | F | 23 September 1867 | 5 February 1979 | 111 years, 135 days | Bavaria (Palatinate) | Rhineland-Palatinate |
44 | Anna Stephan | F | 25 March 1892 | 3 August 2003 | 111 years, 131 days | Bohemia | Bavaria |
45 | Anne Matthiesen (née Jensen) | F | 26 November 1884 | 19 March 1996 | 111 years, 114 days | Schleswig-Holstein | Denmark |
46 | Elsa Tauser | F | 10 July 1896 | 6 October 2007 | 111 years, 88 days | Hamburg | Schleswig-Holstein |
47 | Bertha Lindemann | F | 11 March 1891 | 29 May 2002 | 111 years, 79 days | Brunswick | Lower Saxony |
48 | Johanna Frank | F | 15 September 1875 | 24 November 1986 | 111 years, 70 days | Hamburg | United States |
49 | Käthe 'Katie' Logemann | F | 15 December 1907 | 19 February 2019 | 111 years, 66 days | Oldenburg | United States |
50 | Feuke Glato | F | 26 December 1908 | 31 December 2019 | 111 years, 5 days | Hanover | Lower Saxony |
51 | Else Aßmann | F | 18 February 1902 | 15 February 2013 | 110 years, 363 days | Brandenburg | Berlin |
52 | Agnes Meier | F | 30 May 1907 | 19 May 2018 | 110 years, 354 days | (unknown) | North Rhine-Westphalia |
53 | Carl Berner | M | 27 January 1902 | 7 January 2013 | 110 years, 346 days | Württemberg | United States |
54 | Aloysia Tilscher | F | 9 December 1893 | 8 November 2004 | 110 years, 335 days | Moravia | Bavaria |
55 | Hildegard Henke | F | 4 November 1905 | 27 September 2016 | 110 years, 328 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
56 | Frieda Schmidt | F | 15 December 1899 | 6 November 2010 | 110 years, 326 days | Brandenburg | Brandenburg |
57 | Berta Zeisler | F | 2 February 1900 | 1 December 2010 | 110 years, 302 days | Lorraine | Rhineland-Palatinate |
58 | Gisela Metreweli | F | 10 October 1893 | 31 July 2004 | 110 years, 295 days | Bavaria | Bavaria |
59 | Marie Stutz | F | 22 October 1896 | 11 August 2007 | 110 years, 293 days | Hesse | Bavaria |
60 | Gerhart Schneider | M | 13 March 1908 | 18 December 2018 | 110 years, 280 days | Silesia | North Rhine-Westphalia |
61 | Erna Henningsen | F | 24 May 1889 | 27 February 2000 | 110 years, 279 days | Prussian Saxony | Berlin |
62 | Frieda Müller | F | 18 October 1894 | 21 July 2005 | 110 years, 276 days | Brandenburg | Brandenburg |
63 | Pauline Spyra | F | 24 April 1886 | 11 January 1997 | 110 years, 262 days | Silesia | Bavaria |
64 | Felicitas Rau | F | 11 December 1907 | 8 August 2018 | 110 years, 240 days | Hamburg | North Rhine-Westphalia |
65 | Helga Doerk | F | 8 February 1908 | 2 October 2018 | 110 years, 237 days | Carinthia, Austria | North Rhine-Westphalia |
66 | Frieda Tessmer | F | 5 August 1897 | 28 March 2008 | 110 years, 236 days | Brandenburg | Berlin |
67 | Clothilde Rey | F | 20 November 1892 | 9 July 2003 | 110 years, 231 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
68 | Erna Scharfenberg | F | 26 June 1894 | 26 January 2005 | 110 years, 214 days | Hamburg | Schleswig-Holstein |
69 | Mathilde Stoellger | F | 21 April 1893 | 16 November 2003 | 110 years, 209 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
70 | Karolina Gröber | F | 27 April 1901 | 21 November 2011 | 110 years, 208 days | Bavaria | Bavaria |
71 | Friedrich Wedeking | M | 10 October 1862 | 5 May 1973 | 110 years, 207 days | Lippe | North Rhine-Westphalia |
72 | Maria Corba | F | 15 August 1878 | 8 March 1989 | 110 years, 205 days | Banat | North Rhine-Westphalia |
73 | Charlotte Bauch | F | 12 October 1900 | 2 May 2011 | 110 years, 202 days | Saxony | Bavaria |
74 | Arno Wagner | M | 4 June 1894 | 22 December 2004 | 110 years, 201 days | Saxony | Saxony |
75 | Caroline Dott | F | 5 February 1900 | 8 August 2010 | 110 years, 184 days | Alsace | France |
76 | Marie Freund | F | 25 September 1885 | 13 March 1996 | 110 years, 170 days | East Prussia | Brandenburg |
77 | Franziska Umrath | F | 5 September 1885 | 18 February 1996 | 110 years, 166 days | West Prussia | Hamburg |
78 | Maria Volmer | F | 8 June 1890 | 6 November 2000 | 110 years, 151 days | Westphalia | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Johanne Rasmus | F | 25 October 1896 | 25 March 2007 | Hanover | Lower Saxony | ||
80 | Helene Heidbreder | F | 19 May 1897 | 8 October 2007 | 110 years, 142 days | Westphalia | Lower Saxony |
Maria Jantke | F | 18 October 1902 | 9 March 2013 | Westphalia | North Rhine-Westphalia | ||
82 | Emma Joisten | F | 21 June 1898 | 8 November 2008 | 110 years, 140 days | Hesse-Nassau | North Rhine-Westphalia |
83 | Johanne Wilks | F | 8 February 1893 | 23 June 2003 | 110 years, 135 days | Oldenburg | Lower Saxony |
84 | Else Hessberg | F | 5 December 1892 | 12 April 2003 | 110 years, 128 days | Hesse-Nassau | United States |
85 | Ella Ille Rentel | F | 19 May 1852 | 19 September 1962 | 110 years, 123 days | Russia | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Lina von Veh | F | 17 February 1898 | 19 June 2008 | Russia | Bavaria | ||
87 | Theresia Guglberger | F | 26 August 1908 | 25 December 2018 | 110 years, 121 days | (unknown) | (unknown) |
88 | Christine Steinhauer | F | 12 August 1908 | 1 December 2018 | 110 years, 111 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
89 | Ruth Weyl | F | 6 November 1908 | 23 February 2019 | 110 years, 109 days | Silesia | United States |
90 | John Mauch | M | 24 December 1888 | 7 March 1999 | 110 years, 73 days | Württemberg | United States |
91 | Martin Eichel | M | 13 July 1907 | 18 September 2017 | 110 years, 67 days | (unknown) | Hesse |
92 | Maria Schmitz | F | 27 August 1886 | 22 October 1996 | 110 years, 56 days | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
93 | Wilhelm Schorner | M | 3 February 1889 | 29 March 1999 | 110 years, 54 days | Bavaria | Bavaria |
94 | Giovanna Meyer-Zettel | F | 6 December 1896 | 12 January 2007 | 110 years, 37 days | Alsace | Italy |
95 | Wilhelmine Gnueg | F | 12 March 1894 | 17 April 2004 | 110 years, 36 days | Hesse-Nassau | United States |
96 | Else Giesecke | F | 23 February 1908 | 27 March 2018 | 110 years, 33 days | (unknown) | Lower Saxony |
97 | Franziska Maier | F | 23 April 1898 | 20 May 2008 | 110 years, 27 days | Bohemia | Saxony-Anhalt |
98 | Mathilde Bonzo-Wrede | F | 29 May 1890 | 8 June 2000 | 110 years, 10 days | Westphalia | Switzerland |
99 | Irene Mergelsberg | F | 4 March 1893 | 6 March 2003 | 110 years, 2 days | Hesse | Hesse |
100 | Jane Ising | (née Johannah Ehmer)F | 2 February 1902 | 2 February 2012 | 110 years, 0 days | Berlin | United States |
Incomplete cases
Name | Sex | Birth date | Death date | Age | Place of birth | Place of death |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christine Hoscheid | F | 16 February 1907 | 2018 (after 16 February) | 111 years+ | Rhineland | North Rhine-Westphalia |
Biographies
Friedrich Wedeking
Karl Friedrich Wedeking (10 October 1862 – 5 May 1973) was the first German-born person to reach age 110 (as Ella Ille Rentel, who was the first German supercentenarian, was born in Lithuania) and when he died aged 110 years, 207 days, was also the world's oldest living man. He was born in Blomberg and died in Dortmund. He was one of the founding members of the gliders club, which was started in 1931 and is still active in Blomberg today.
Wedeking was succeeded as world's oldest living man by Frederick Butterfield.
Maria Laqua
Maria Laqua (12 February 1889 – 9 February 2002) was a German supercentenarian who was the oldest person ever in Germany (as German-born Augusta Holtz lived in the United States) when she died aged 112 years, 362 days (three days before her 113th birthday), though until 12 October 2018 when her age was surpassed by Gustav Gerneth.
Maria Laqua was born in 1889 in Rheydt-Odenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, as one of 13 children. She worked as a housemaid, married and gave birth to two children in the 1920s. Her husband Charles died in 1958. Both of their sons died in the Second World War. Laqua lived for 35 years in a retirement home in Bad Hönningen, Rhineland-Palatinate and died in her sleep on 9 February 2002. She was only survived by a great-niece who attended her regularly. It was reported that Laqua was in need of care, bedridden and inaccessible during her last years. Nevertheless, there were also good days when she had a flash and spoke.
Hermann Dörnemann
Hermann Dörnemann (27 May 1893 – 2 March 2005) was a German supercentenarian who, at the time of his death, was the oldest living person in Germany since the death of 111-year-old Lina Zimmer on 28 August 2004 and the oldest living man in Europe since the death of 114-year-old Spaniard Joan Riudavets on 5 March 2004. He was believed to have become the world's oldest living man upon the death of 113-year-old American man Fred H. Hale Sr. on 19 November 2004 but later Puerto Rican man Emiliano Mercado del Toro, who died aged 115 in January 2007, was confirmed to be almost two years older than Dörnemann.
Dörnemann credited his longevity to "drinking a beer a day". He died of pneumonia in Düsseldorf on 2 March 2005 aged 111 years, 279 days and was the oldest German man ever before being surpassed by Gustav Gerneth on 22 July 2017.
Elisabeth Schneider
Elisabeth Schneider (19 August 1901 – 9 February 2013) was a German supercentenarian who was the oldest living person in Germany from the death of Karolina Gröber on 21 November 2011 until her own death on 9 February 2013 at the age of 111 years and 174 days. She was born in Bad Oeynhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1901 and had two sisters. She married in 1923 and gave birth to a daughter two years later. Schneider lived on her own until the age of 97. At her 111th birthday she was asked for the secret of her longevity as the oldest living German supercentenarian and replied laughing that others just would have given up gasping for breath. On 9 February 2013, she died in a retirement home in Varel, Lower Saxony. Schneider was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Gertrud Henze
Gertrud Henze (8 December 1901 – 22 April 2014) was a German supercentenarian who had been the oldest living person in Germany since the death of Elisabeth Schneider on 9 February 2013 until her own death on 22 April 2014. Henze, who formerly worked as a librarian, was born in Rügen and never married or had children. She was still in good health and had lived in a retirement home in Göttingen from 1993 until her death; where she was a well-liked person by many residents for her open and life-affirming attitude. Henze said reasons for her longevity included: reading a lot, having lively contact with other people, sometimes enjoying a cigarette and a glass of wine and never getting married. She celebrated her one-hundred and twelfth birthday only with some friends and relatives, because the public interest in consequence of her birthday the year before was too exhausting. She enjoyed reading, even with the help of a magnifying glass. Notwithstanding her physical limitations, Henze was able to walk with the help of a zimmer to meet acquaintances and friends for a chat. Henze died on 22 April 2014 at the age of 112 years and 135 days. She left her body to medical science for genetic research.
Frieda Szwillus
Frieda Szwillus (née Hennig; 30 March 1902 – 21 September 2014) was a German supercentenarian who had been Germany's oldest living person from 22 April 2014 until her death 5 months later, aged 112 years, 175 days. Frieda Hennig was born in Dessau in 1902 (now in Saxony-Anhalt) and had six siblings. In 1908, aged six; she and her family moved to Erla. Szwillus was married twice, raised one biological child and three stepchildren, and outlived all four of them.
In late-2011, Szwillus was bedridden for some weeks but recovered. Until her later years, she was living at home in Raschau with her family and she needed no medicine. Mrs. Szwillus was in good physical condition, but suffered from dementia. Szwillus's family attributed her longevity to having a lively family life. She often visited her siblings but never went on holiday. Furthermore, Szwillus was only physically active during her youth. She also enjoyed knitting and embroidering. She died on 21 September 2014 at the age of 112 years and 175 days.
Gustav Gerneth
Gustav Gerneth (15 October 1905 – 22 October 2019) was, at the claimed age of 114 years, 7 days, an unrecognized claimant to the world's oldest living man title after the death of Japanese Masazō Nonaka on 19 January 2019 (Nonaka died on 20 January 2019 Japanese time).Gerneth was born in Stettin, German Empire (now Szczecin, Poland). He worked in a shipping company and at a gas plant. During World War II, he was a mechanic in the German air force (Luftwaffe). He married Charlotte Grubert in 1930 and the couple had three sons; she died in 1988.
Gerneth lived in Havelberg in Saxony-Anhalt for over forty years, and continued to do so on his own, with family members caring for his household. According to a statement by his granddaughter on his 113th birthday, he still had a lucid mind, watching football, solving crosswords, and doing mental arithmetic. Asked for the reason for his long life, he said: "I have always been living and eating well. No diet. Always butter, never margarine. I have not touched any cigarette all my life and I drank alcohol only at celebrations."