BIOGRAPHY

Anna Medwenitsch was born Anna Maria Fink in Hof am Leithaberge, Lower Austria, on 17 March 1907. She was a Burgenland Croat, and baptized Catholic on the day of her birth. She was the daughter of the unmarried domestic servant Anna Fink and the blast furnace worker Mathias Zsabetich. In early November 1907, she was officially recognized as their legitimate child upon her parents’ marriage. As a child, she spoke both Croatian and German, but later in life, she could only recall a few Croatian songs.

Coming from a farming family, she began working on her grandfather’s farm at the age of seven after the death of her grandmother. During her youth, she cared for her grandparents, later tending to her in-laws during her marriage, and eventually her husband, Martin Medwenitsch (18 January 1901 – 3 July 1973), whom she married in June 1927 and who suffered multiple strokes. Her first child lived only eleven months, and her daughter passed away at the age of 56.

Medwenitsch worked as a farmer in her hometown throughout her life. Before moving to the Marienheim in Bruck an der Leitha shortly after her 106th birthday, following a femur fracture in 2012, she lived independently in her childhood home.

RECOGNITION

Sometime during 2017, she became the oldest living person in Austria. Upon her own passing, she was succeeded by Anna Wiesmayr.

Medwenitsch’s age was verified by Dr. Andrew Holmes and Stefan Maglov, and was validated by the ESO on 3 May 2021.

ATTRIBUTION

* Anna Medwenitsch – Wikipedia

* “Kroatin ist älteste Niederösterreicherin” – ORF, 19 March 2015

* “Anna Medwenitsch feierte ihren 110. Geburtstag in Bruck” – MeinBezirk.at, 18 March 2017

* “Älteste Frau Österreichs feiert 111. Geburtstag” – noe.ORF.at, 17 Mach 2018

* “Älteste Österreicherin starb mit 111 Jahren” – heute.at, 13 September 2019

GALLERY