Charlotte Kretschmann, the oldest living person in Germany, turns 114

The Gerontology Research Group (GRG) is delighted to report the 114th birthday of Mrs. Charlotte Kretschmann of Germany. Mrs. Kretschmann is the first validated supercentenarian who has reached the age of 114 in the modern history of Germany. As of the present day, she is the 13th oldest living person in the world whose age has been scientifically validated.

Charlotte Kretschmann was born in Breslau, Silesia, Germany (now Wrocław, Lower Silesia Voivodeship, Poland) on December 3, 1909. She married Werner Kretschmann and had one daughter with him. During the World War II, her husband was drafted to the army and sent on the frontline in France. In 1944, her daughter and she were forced to flee Breslau and moved to Stuttgart, Baden Wuerttenberg, Germany, where she was reunited with her husband after the war ended. At the time Charlotte was 109, her daughter was still alive, as well as two grandsons, Dominic and Peter.

Charlotte Kretschmann celebrated her 110th birthday in December 2019, becoming a supercentenarian. In March 2021 at the age of 111, she voted in the Baden-Wurttemberg state election. On June 19, 2023, the Gerontology Research Group announced on the World Supercentenarian Forum that Kretschmann had been given the pending status. On August 8, 2023, she surpassed the final age of Josefine Ollmann, becoming the oldest person ever to have been born and resided in Germany.

As of her 113th birthday, she lived in Kirchheim unter Teck, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. She is the oldest known living person in Baden-Wuerttemberg, and she has been the oldest known living person in Germany since the death of Anna Cernohorsky on September 18, 2022. She is also the third-oldest validated living person in Europe behind Maria Branyas Morera and Ethel Caterham.
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The case of Charlotte Kretschmann was verified by Stefan Jamin, Felix Kommnick et al., and validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) on Aug. 23, 2023.