Happy 111th Birthday, Ms. Oertel!

https://longeviquest.com/2025/11/german-supercentenarian-gertrud-oertel-turns-111/

German Supercentenarian Gertrud Oertel Turns 111

Gertrud Oertel, a resident of Berlin, Germany, is celebrating her 111th birthday today, according to Tagesspiegel.

Oertel was born in the district of Seddin in the municipality of Seddiner See, near Berlin, on 11 November 1914. She grew up in Michendorf, where her father worked as a tiler and built a beautiful house for the family. She lost her mother during the Spanish flu pandemic. The entire family contracted the flu, and her mother cared for each of them until, as the last to fall ill, she succumbed to the illness herself.

Oertel never married. In her youth, she was in a relationship with her first love, and they dreamed of a future together. But their happiness was short-lived, as he passed away far too young. In the early 1960s, she moved to East Berlin for her job with the railway, where she worked as a ticket clerk. There, she met her second love, and they planned to marry. Sadly, their time together was short, as he passed away from an illness. After his death, she decided to adopt a child from the children’s home on Südostallee—a girl named Ute.

At the moment, she is the third-oldest known living person in Germany, after Else Tostmann and Ilse Neumann.