| Robert Meier | |
 | |
| Birth: | 10 March 1897 Sergejewka, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) |
| Death: | 29 January 2007 Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Age: | 109 years, 325 days |
| Country: |  UKR GER
|
| Centenarian | |
Robert Meier (10 March 1897 – 29 January 2007) was a Ukrainian-born (Russian Empire then) German centenarian who, at the age of 109, was the Germany's oldest living man, a combat-wounded veteran of World War I and one of Germany's last surviving veterans of that war.
Biography
Robert Meier was born to German parents in Sergejewka, Ukraine, in the Russian Empire on 10 March 1897. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany for 70 years, and worked as a railway worker. His wife Ella died in 1967; they had a son and a daughter.
He was a rarity in being a survivor of the infantry, having seen combat in France on the Western front. Meier may also have been the last person to have met Kaiser Wilhelm II in person (i.e. as the Kaiser: he abdicated in 1918). He was also a World War II veteran, spending some time as a prisoner of war in the Caucasus.
Meier became Germany's oldest recognized living man on 2 March 2005, when he was nearly 108, following the passing of Hermann Dornemann, who was 111. He held the title for almost two years. However, he never became the Germany's oldest living person as that title belonged to a woman named Irmgard von Stephani who was born on 20 September 1895 and died on 5 October 2007.
In October 2006, Robert Meier met 110-year-old Henry Allingham, the oldest living British WWI veteran, in his hometown. France's oldest veteran ever, Maurice Floquet, sent his regards, but could not attend, because he was too frail to travel. Floquet subsequently died on the eve of Armistice Day, 10 November 2006.
Meier had a fine sense of humour; in 2006, he let the local press take his picture while he was wearing a WW1 spiked helmet and a t-shirt with the slogan "109 - na und?" ("109 - so what?") on it. He was at good health and keeping his own household until late 2006, and hospitalised only a few weeks before his death: he had a bad fall right before Christmas Day and died about five weeks later on, just one day before he was scheduled to have an ulcer operation.
Robert Meier lived in Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, where he died on 29 January 2007 at the age of 109 years, 325 days.
References
- Alter: Der letzte Soldat des Kaisers ist tot Westdeutsche Zeitung, 31 January 2007
- Oldest war veterans make friends BBC News, 30 October 2006
- [1] Dead link
- (with pictures) Page changed
- (with picture) Page changed
| Germany's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
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Karl Glockner • Unknown • Josef Callenberg • Mathias Bollinger • Unknown • Johann Hartlieb • Adolf Lange • Karl Pfeiffer • Johann Wost • Friedrich Wedeking • August Schmidt • Wilhelm Deffner • Karl Bulow • Fritz Witt • Heinrich Oppermann • Ernst Schutt • Wenzel Novotny • Otto Trost • Peter Schmitt • Friedrich von Rauchhaupt • Wilhelm Gazioch • A. Hermann Lange • Ernst Laurenty • Gustav Rupnow • Robert Hubener • Wilhelm Lehnen • Jonathan Richter • Wilhelm Schorner • Lorenz Imminger • Georg Bredtschneider • Hermann Dornemann • Robert Meier • Wilhelm Remmert • Rudolf Christmann • Georg Thalhofer • Franz Kunstler • Georg Rosenkranz • Hermann Mayer-Kaupp • Erich Berger • Richard Hinz • Friedrich Volmer • Martin Dressel • Paul Veit • Bernhard Prott • Erich Walde • Gustav Gerneth • Heinrich Homann • Hans Schornack • Karlheinz Stauber • Karl Haidle • |