Irmgard von Stephani

Who was Irmgard von Stephani?

Irmgard von Stephani was at age 112 years 15 days, the oldest person in Germany alive and one of only 4 Europeans left who were officially born in 1895. The three remaining ones at the time were Astrid Zachrison of Sweden, Manuela Fernández-Fojaco of Spain and Marie-Louise Lhuillier of France.

Von Stephani was born in Kassel. In the 1930s, she moved to Lankwitz, a district of Steglitz in the southwest of the German capital Berlin. She was a young adult during the First World War, and at the end of the Second World War, she was 50 years old.

Von Stephani was unmarried with no children. She became the oldest living German resident at age 109 on 22 July 2005, with the death of 110-year-old Frieda Müller. Von Stephani held this position for over two years. When Von Stephani turned 110, she received an honorary certificate from German President Horst Köhler. She had her 111th birthday in 2006. At the time, she was having trouble with her eyesight and hearing, but she still went out occasionally for the odd walk, and, quite remarkably, was also still living on her own.

When turning 112, she had moved into an old people's facility just five months before. Despite being in seemingly good health, Von Stephani died not long after her last birthday, aged 112 years 15 days. She was succeeded as Germany's oldest person by 111-year-old Elsa Tauser, who died herself just one day later, relinquishing the title to fellow 111-year-old Frieda Borchert.