Oldest Berliner celebrates her 111th birthday

Gertrud Oertel, the oldest person living in Berlin, has celebrated her 111th birthday… and given some advice to the younger generations.

Gertrud Oertel turns 111 in Berlin

Gertrude Oertel, the oldest living Berliner, has celebrated her 111th birthday in the district of Niederschöneweide, where she lives in a senior citizens’ home with her two cats.

Oertel was born in Brandenburg on November 11, 1914, shortly after the beginning of World War I. She first worked as a chambermaid in a tuberculosis sanatorium, then at a military hospital during World War II, for the German national railway service, and then in administration. She has been retired for 50 years and counting.

District Mayor Oliver Igel (SPD) and District Councillor Carolin Weingart (die Linke) personally congratulated Oertel on her birthday. “Her life has not been spared the vicissitudes and catastrophes of the 20th century, nor personal tragedies,” Weingart said in a press release. “That is precisely why her courage and her joy in the many little things in everyday life are so impressive.”

Oertel gives younger generations some advice

For the occasion, Oertel had a piece of wisdom to share with the generations below her - i.e. everyone who is between the ages of 0 to 90 - imploring us all to “be reasonable and stay peaceful”.

The Berliner is currently the third-oldest person living in Germany. Ilse Meingast, born in Prussian Berlin and currently living in California, is 113. Ilse Neumann is also 111 years old and only slightly older than Oertel, living in Taucha, Saxony.

Charlotte Kretschmann, who is believed to have been the oldest person to have lived in Germany, died in August 2024 at 114 years old.