107 years - Anneliese Figge celebrates her birthday

Actor Louis de Funès, explorer Thor Heyerdahl, Everest conqueror Tenzing Norgay and Anneliese Figge from the west of Bielefeld have one thing in common: they were all born in 1914. But the Bielefeld woman is the only one of them to celebrate her birthday on 14 November. At 107, Anneliese Figge, who lives in Bethel's Lohmannshof care centre, is the oldest person in the city.

Her son Wolfgang Figge, himself 76 years old, describes his mother, who was born on Arndtstraße, as a "native of western Bielefeld". This is where her parents ran a stationery shop. She worked in the family business from an early age, including in the accounts department. You can still tell today that she is a real "numbers person": she is still very good at mental arithmetic. She also has a good memory - she knows countless birthdays and telephone numbers by heart.

The coronavirus pandemic, which Anneliese Figge has so far survived in Lohmannshof in good health and without infection, is not the first mass infection for the Bielefeld resident. She also remembers the Spanish flu, which claimed millions of lives in 1918. "I remember my father being very ill at the time." As a child, few would have thought that she herself would not only survive this dangerous time, but also more than a century, including two world wars: "I was always the smallest and lightest of them all," she says. Every year, the girl with the supposedly weak constitution was sent for six weeks of treatment to become more robust.

Anneliese Figge did not first come into contact with Bethel when she moved to the care centre in Bielefeld Wellensiek thirteen years ago. Almost 100 years ago, the girl attended the needlework school in Bethel at her grandmother's request. "A girl must be able to sew," was her firm conviction. "I liked it there," remembers Anneliese Figge. "I learnt from the deaconesses what you need for household use." She was married to her husband Wilhelm from 1936 until his death in 1992. The marriage produced two children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Anneliese Figge does not have a recipe for reaching such an old age. Only a "solid life" is recommended. Perhaps it's down to the good genes in the family, after all, her younger sister also "cracked" the 100 mark this year. But she does have one piece of advice for her fellow human beings: "You have to know your measure."

Text: Robert Burg | Photo: Paul Schulz