Women's Portraits

Annemarie Trenner

Open minded, straight forward do we meet Annemarie Trenner. She is interested in people and their tales. Therefore she loves to read biographies. This interest might also have been developed because of her own history, a typical war destiny, especially difficult after the war.

Education, Jobs and Professional Life

Annemarie was born 1936 in Berlin. Together with her mother and the younger brother she was evacuated in 1943 and finally the family settled in Southern Germany, on the Swabian Alb.  Her father had to serve in the army.

Children of that age hardly attended school in those days.  In the 50ies the teenager was sent to her grandmother in East Berlin, where she worked with the telegraph company. When Annemarie had returned to her family, she didn`t get a job. This was very frustrating for the young woman. Therefore Annamarie decided to follow her own ideas.

A Lucky Hit or Fate!?

The young lady soon came across an advertisement for a job abroad. She took the chance and went to France as an au-pair-help. However this first experience turned out to be negative and after a week Annemarie came back to Germany. But she didn`t give up and applied again after a year. The new occupation in the outskirts of Paris was more successful, she could even move to the centre of the city. Now it was more convenient to study with Alliance Francaise.

After two years, in the beginnig of the 60ies Annemarie continued her language studies in Cambridge and London. There she had to earn her living. She worked in a Greek hotel and later for different British companies with branches on the European continent. Besides she learned to use English shorthand. Self-confident and proud the young German managed all difficulties abroad.

Annemarie married in 1967. She went to the USA for about two years together with her husband. There she quickly got a job, according to her language abilities.

With this knowledge her favourite idea became reality: working with languages. Back to Germany she got jobs as a foreign correspondent in different cities and later in well-known companies in Ulm, where she had moved as she wanted to stay near her parents. Till her retirement in 1995 she  worked with a long established enterprise in Ulm.

Honorary  Occupation

After her retirement she took up the honorary activity, which had been interrupted years ago because of her more demanding jobs.

In 1979 an article in a local paper caught her interest. The community  looked for people, who were willing to accompany patients who were released from hospital. The volonteers were asked to organize activities for the weekends and how to pass the leisure time. They invited patients to have a late breakfast in company and offered them other employments. Besides money had to be raised. In 2009, a notice in a paper brought Mrs Annemarie Trenner a new challenge.

In a less attractive quarter of Ulm, called Dichterviertel she joined a project, which met her interest in foreign countries. Women with an immigration background looked for contacts with inhabitants of Ulm in order to  improve their language skills and to talk to native speakers. An attractive engagement for the inquisitive senior citizen.

Annemarie participated in various projects.  She visited for example the museum with women of different  nations, where a stained glass  workshop was offered.  Recently Annemarie Trenner had joined a group for a trip to Istanbul. A good opportunity to get to know each other. Discussions about specific topics take place and they are liked.

The women of this project look for a chance to talk about their daily lives and their own history. They often ask for advice. The immigrants from all over the world want to share their culture. Once a month immigrants and Germans meet to prepare meals and to eat together. There are also international, inter-cultural parties.

Further Activities

Mrs Trenner continues her studies in foreign laguages. Every second week she privately attends an English lesson. She is also a member of the “More Generation House” in Ulm, which she likes as a convenient place to meet people. There she participates in a French conversation course. Weekly gymnastic exercises in a local sports club is a long practised routine.

However, her passion is hiking. Being enthusiastic about nature Marianne is a member of the club “Friends of Nature” and rather regularly she joins most of the hiking tours offered. After an operation on her hip-joint ten years ago long distances are difficult for her, shorter walks she can well manage with the help of nordic walking sticks.

According to this small handicap Annemarie Trenner advises everybody, especially the younger generation to care for their health lifelong.

The very independant senior citizen shows great optimism concerning the future.

Monika van Koolwijk