Maria Laqua

Maria Laqua (12 February 1889 – 9 February 2002) was a German supercentenarian who is actually the oldest person ever to be born and die in Germany.

Maria Laqua was born in 1889 in Reydt-Odenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, as one of 13 children. She worked as housemaid, married and gave birth to two children in the 1920s. Her husband Charles died in 1958. Their both sons fell in the Second World War. Laqua lived for 35 years in a retirement home in Bad Hönningen, Rhineland-Palatinate and died in her sleep, three days before her 113th birthday. She was only survived by a great-niece who attended her regularly. It was reported that Laqua was in need of care, bedridden and not accessible during her last years. Nevertheless there were also good days when Maria Laqua had a flash and spoke. During a visit of a bishop for example, she had spoken at once and told a lot