Charlotte Kretschmann

Charlotte "Lotte" Kretschmann (born 3 December 1909) is a German supercentenarian and the oldest living person in Germany.

Life
Kretschmann was born in Breslau on 3 December 1909. In her childhood she did gymnastics, and remarked that "she got everything she wanted from her parents". Kretschmann also said in an interview that she wanted to do what her older brother "was allowed to do" (namely sports). She thus ran 800 meters as a "discipline" which earned her a gold pin from the sports authorities. In addition to her parents and older brother she also had grandparents who lived on a farm in Pomerania. Kretschmann (27 at the time) met her husband Werner during a dance at a sporting event (c.1936). During that same year they were married and later had a daughter named Siegried. During World War II, her husband was drafted into the army and sent to the front line in France. While Kretschmann stayed behind in their hometown she was forced to flee in 1944 with her daughter to Stuttgart. The Red Cross "facilitated the couple’s reunion" after the war ended and the family of 3 settled there. Kretschmann's husband died in 1996, and her daughter Siegried was last known to be alive in 2018.

On 3 December 2019 Kretschmann turned 110 years old and lived alone until 2014 when she experienced a brain hemorrhage. While health scare prompted her to move into a nursing home in Kirchheim unter Teck, she has been noted by doctors for her relatively remarkable health given her age. Kretschmann has an Instagram account where she keeps a photo diary of her life. She eventually became the oldest living person in Germany at the age of 112, and her age was verified by the Gerontology Research Group on 23 August 2023. While LongeviQuest states that Kretschmann is the "oldest person to ever live in Germany", this is disputed by the Gerontology Research Group which lists Augusta Holtz at 115 years, 79 days old.