Every experience leaves traces within us.
But it is not just the hardships that shaped who Inge is today;
It is, above all, the way she responded to them.
Her wheels kept turning.
Big Wheels Keep on Turning
Inge’s past is woven with loss, early responsibility, and constant upheaval. But her wheels kept turning. And at 94, they still are.
When she was only 16 years old, Inge’s daughter took her own life. And although this wasn’t the first twist of fate in Inge’s life, that would would have pushed others to their limits, she always maintained her unwavering strength.
A foot injury brought Inge to a retirement home two and a half years ago. Here, she fills her days with seated dancing, singing and memory games, choosing to spend her remaining time with intention: “I haven't turned on the television once since I came here. It’s important for me to stay active.”
Yet, even though she feels comfortable in her new surroundings, her heart resides elsewhere.
Almost her entire life took place on the German island of Sylt, and for her, the facility is just a temporary stop. “In my mind, I am always on the island,” she says. "The freedom, the sweeping view. The wind blew right through me, and all my negative thoughts were blown away."
Inge grew up on a bustling farm, yet her childhood was marked by constant consideration for others.
Due to the vacation guests who filled the house, she always had to keep quiet. This burden to put herself last was evident even in small ways: while her younger sisters sat comfortably in the handcart, she, as the older sister, always had to walk alongside it. “I was very rebellious as a child. I always felt left out,” Inge recalls.
She was a self-proclaimed "dad’s girl" with a passion for agriculture. But everything changed on a Sunday afternoon in June 1945, when British soldiers burst into the family dining room, arresting her father, a former local party leader. They told him to grab his toiletries, promising he might be back by evening. Instead, he disappeared for two and a half years.
At age 13, my childhood was over.
Inge instantly had to take over all the farm chores her father left behind, “My goal was always to make sure everything was in order by the time my father came home.“ But when he finally came back, he was a broken man, eventually losing his mind and moving into a secure psychiatric facility. “He would always stand at the fence and wave - it was terrible,” Inge recalls. He passed away while she was training to be a nurse in Hamburg, but Inge kept going back and forth to the island. She couldn't leave for good, since she had to shield her alcoholic mother and keep the farm from going under. “If I had left, everything would have gone down the drain.”
Life kept testing her resilience. At 25, she gave birth to her daughter from an affair with a married man. She never brought her partners home, since she was ashamed of her mother's condition. Yet, no matter what cards fate dealt her, Inge refused to break. She found the strength to accept things as they happened and to grow from them, carrying on to run two successful guest houses on her beloved island until she was 81 years old.
Even death itself has tried to stop her. Twice, her heart failed. During a helicopter evacuation after a severe heart attack, she heard the doctor tell her son: “Let’s hope your mother makes it.”
“And I made it,” she says today. Now, at 94, she notices how quickly time flies. But neither her physical limitations nor the trauma of her past can slow her down. Armed with a fierce, forthright manner, Inge remains the author of her own story.
Inge sings an old Frisian song that reminds her of home.
Text in Frisian:
Wo de Nordseewellen trecken an de Strand,
Wor de geelen Blöme bleuhn int gröne Land,
|: Wor de Möwen schrieen gell int Stormgebrus,
Dor is mine Heimat, dor bün ick to Hus. :|
Translation:
Where the North Sea waves crash onto the beach,
Where the yellow flowers bloom in the green fields,
|: Where the seagulls screech loudly amid the roar of the storm,
That is my home; that is where I belong. :|
