Tekla Juniewicz (born Tekla Dadak; 10 June 1906 – 19 August 2022) was a Polish

supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...

who, until her death at the age 116 years and 70 days, was the second oldest living person in the world (after

Lucile Randon Lucile Randon (; 11 February 1904 – 17 January 2023), also known as Sister André (), was a French supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 118 years, 340 days, was the List of the oldest verified people, world's oldest verified l ...

) for four months, upon the death of

Kane Tanaka was a Japanese supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of , was the world's oldest verified living person, following the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018. She is the oldest verified Japanese person and the second-oldest verifi ...

. She is the oldest Polish person in history.

Biography

Personal life

Tekla Juniewicz (née Tekla Dadak) was born on 10 June 1906 in Krupsko, then in Austria-Hungary, now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and was baptised in the local

Greek Catholic church Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gre ...

on the same day. Her father, Jan Dadak, worked for count

Karol Lanckoroński Count Karol Lanckoroński () (born 4 November 1848 in Vienna; died 15 July 1933 in Vienna) was a Polish writer, art collector, patron, historian, traveler, and vice-president of the Society for Cultural Protection in his native Galicia. He was ...

, and her mother Katarzyna was a housewife who died during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Juniewicz married Jan Juniewicz in 1927, with whom she had two children. They moved to Borysław, which was then a town in

eastern Poland Eastern Poland () is a macroregion in Poland comprising the Lublin Voivodeship, Lublin, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Podlaskie, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie, and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Wa ...

, but is now part of

. In 1945, when the area was annexed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, she left the territory along with her husband and daughters and settled in

Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

, formerly the German city of Gleiwitz.

Death

Juniewicz died on 19 August 2022, due to a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

and heart complications. Her funeral was held on 23 August, four days after her death. She was buried in Gliwice, the city in which she had lived for most of her life. The then-Prime Minister of Poland,

Mateusz Morawiecki Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki (; born 20 June 1968) is a Polish economist, historian and politician who served as the prime minister of Poland between 2017 and 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the Cabinet of ...

, attended the funeral. She was the last validated person born in 1906.

Family

Juniewicz had two daughters, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. Her fourth great-great-granddaughter, Iga Tekla, was born on 10 June 2021, her 115th birthday. Her grandchildren looked after her until her death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juniewicz, Tekla 1906 births 2022 deaths People from Gliwice People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish supercentenarians Women supercentenarians 20th-century Polish people 20th-century Polish women 21st-century Polish women 21st-century Polish people

Biography

Personal life

Death

Family

See also

References