Hermine Nistler was born on 24 December 1900 in Vienna, Austria. Her parents died of tuberculosis when she was young, and she went to live with her grandmother. When she was 14, she and her older sister were both sent to work as maids in Neudorf bei Staatz, Lower Austria.

Hermine had ambitions of becoming a tailor or a teacher, but the First World War stopped her from doing so. She married Josef Nistler in 1923 and had 2 children: Friedrich and Eleonore. Friedrich sadly died in World War 2 when he was a young man. Nistler also had 2 grandchildren, Otto and Gerda. According to her grandson, Hermine Nistler’s secret to living a long life is not drinking much and not smoking.

Following the death of 109-year old Hermine Hinner of Vienna, on 14 February 2009, Hermine Nistler, aged 108 then, became the oldest living person in Austria. She turned 110 on 24 December 2010. Her reign as Austria’s oldest living person lasted almost three years. Hermine Nistler passed away on 13 February 2012 aged 111 years, 51 days. She one of only two validated persons in Austria who lived 111 years or more and is the second-oldest Austrian ever behind Maria Mika.