Annelise Winter enjoyed marking her 100th birthday with a string of celebrations.
Mrs Winter is a member of Jewish Care's Holocaust Survivors' Centre in Hendon where staff and volunteers hosted a tea for her, her nieces' families and her friends at the centre. The centenarian didn't let age hamper additional celebrations which included a surprise tea party, a family lunch and a tea party with friends at Edgware and District Reform.
Mrs Winter, who lives in Mill Hill, said: "My 100th birthday is one of my happiest days, I received a card from the Queen signed with her first name."
Mrs Winter's neice, Sue Sylvester, said: "We would like to thank everyone for the amazing week of 100th birthday celebrations. We were invited to most of the celebrations and were quite exhausted. I don't know how she managed."
Born Annelise Clara Goeritz in 1915, she grew up in Berlin, and worked as a typist. Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, her parents sent her and her sister, Annemarie, to the UK. The sisters did not see their parents again as they did not escape the Nazis.
A distant cousin acted as a guarantor and found jobs for the girls sewing garments in a clothing factory in Leek, Staffordshire.
Mrs Winter said: "I worked there for two years earning 30 shillings a week and paid full board and lodging for £1." When she moved to London after two years, she applied for a typing job in what is now the Department for Work and Pensions, and managed a typing pool until retiring at 65. She married her late husband, Oskar, in 1950, living in Kilburn for £100 a year in rent before the couple moved to Mill Hill.
"Oskar and I met at the Association of Jewish Refugees. He was a refugee from the concentration camps and survived because of a guard who helped him.
"My wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life, when we came out of the registry office people in the street shouted 'Mazel tov!'. We met when I was 35 and Oskar was 40. We didn't have children but I have two nieces, my sister's daughters, Sue and Yvonne. They take care of me." Her husband died in 1992.
Asked if she thought young people respect older people, she replied: "I should think yes. A while ago I wanted to cross the road and a young stranger asked to help me and I thanked him.
"Also, I am very grateful for the support I receive at the Holocaust Survivors' Centre, I come here to play bridge and enjoy the meals, but it is so much more than that, they collect me, they take me home. I can't ask for more."
