*1908 in Hagen

Germany’s oldest woman

About six months after this portrait was taken, Hagen’s oldest citizen fell asleep peacefully on 12th of July 2020. At 111 years of age, Katharina Hagererer was the oldest woman in Germany until that day.

She was born in Hohenlimburg/Hagen in 1908 as the youngest of nine children and would have celebrated her 112th birthday on the 4th of August 2020. Katharina Hagererer enjoyed mental freshness until the very end. At the age of just 14, she began her training as a hotel manageress in Milspe. In the course of her life, she set up in business for herself as a cook. In this activity, Katharina Hagererer found not only a profession, but a real passion.

During the war she worked in an officer’s household and had to cook for Adolf Hitler several times.

The passionate cook never married. Nevertheless, she was sure that good cooking skills were indispensable for women: „Otherwise the men will run away from you,“ said Katharina Hagererer.

Her valuable advice for a long life is, in the truest sense of the word, simple: „simplicity!“

photo: René Schwerdtel for Wissner-Bosserhoff