Supercentenarian Profile

Maria Jantke

Born:

1902-10-18

Cisy, Pomeranian Voivodeship

Poland

Died:

2013-03-09

Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia

Germany

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Maria Magdalena Jantke was a Polish-born German supercentenarian. Her age has been validated by the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO), and recognised by LongeviQuest.

BIOGRAPHY

Maria Jantke was born in the village of Cisy in Gmina Malbork, within Malbork County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland (then German Empire), on 18 October 1902. She was one of eight siblings, and her father was a farm laborer. He worked as a farmhand on a large estate but had also leased a small plot of land, allowing the family to support themselves with homegrown produce and livestock.

The children were raised in a strictly Catholic household. According to her, her mother relied on strength and faith in God after her husband was killed in the First World War, leaving her to raise eight children alone. Although she struggled to provide for the family, she managed by working in the Reichsbahn’s canteen. After completing elementary school, Maria trained as a florist at a large nursery, contributing to the household income.

After meeting and falling in love with Artur Jantke, Maria left home to live with him. He was a career soldier in a bicycle company of the Reichswehr and was stationed at the Marienburg barracks (present-day Malbork). They married in 1927, and over the next two years their daughters, Traute and Hildegard, were born. In 1932, Artur left the Reichswehr to take a position with the Reichspost (German Postal Service), which brought the young family from West Prussia to Mülheim, where their son Rudi was born in 1936.

In 1939, her husband Artur was drafted into the Wehrmacht. During the war, she and her children fled the bombing to Görlitz and later returned to Mülheim under difficult circumstances, traveling on coal trains. After the Second World War, they were required to take in displaced people, sharing their four-room apartment on Kreuzstraße with nine others. Following her husband’s death in 1956, she continued working at Stinnes and in a furniture store. Her earnings enabled her to travel extensively throughout Germany and Austria.

After a fall in her apartment at the age of 105, which resulted in a broken hip, she became confined to a wheelchair, though she was still able to move around independently. At 109, she remained a devout Catholic, saying, “I pray to God and thank Him for my health.” At 110, she was reported to be nearly blind and severely hard of hearing, requiring people to speak loudly to get her attention. Nevertheless, she remained mentally sharp.

Maria Jantke passed away in Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, on 9 March 2013, at the age of 110 years, 142 days.