Josefine Ollmann was born in 1908 under the last German Emperor Wilhelm II. Now the oldest woman in Germany has died. She was 113 years old. The new record holder is only slightly younger.
So far she was the oldest person in Germany: Josefine Ollmann died at the age of 113, as reported by the "Bild" newspaper with reference to family members. She died on July 16th in a retirement home in Itzehoe in Schleswig-Holstein. The funeral took place in the closest family circle. Ollmann was born on November 11, 1908 in Munich.
"She has experienced a lot in her life," a relative is quoted as saying. Born in the German Empire under the last German Emperor Wilhelm II, she experienced two world wars and numerous political upheavals. According to the report, she graduated at the top of her class in Wittenberg and also trained as a laboratory assistant. In 1939 Ollmann married. After the Second World War she moved with her two children to Kellinghusen in Schleswig-Holstein. Her husband had died in 1952. There she lived until she was 107 years old. Then she moved to a nursing home.
The secret of her old age? "She always thought positively, was never actually sick, took ginseng and stone powder from Austria and played bridge," said a relative.
People who live past the age of 110 are called supercentenarians. Their total number worldwide is estimated at 300 to 450, according to the Gerontology Research Group. In Germany, Anna Cernohorsky from Bautzen is now the oldest person in Germany. She is 112 years old. The oldest person whose biographical data has been confirmed so far was Jeanne Calment from France. She died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
