She is something like the good soul of Neubiberg.
Liebgard Brenner, who worked her life for children in need in Russia and women with cancer, is 80 years old today.
Neubiberg
- She survived the war, was the only woman in her semester to study electrical engineering, helped disabled children in Russia and successfully fought breast cancer.
Today Liebgard Brenner from Neubiberger is 80 years old and looks back on an exciting life - with ups and downs.
"I was the only woman in the entire semester"
Brenner grew up with five siblings in the garden city of Trudering during the Second World War.
Just a few miles from where you are now.
"Back then, my mother thought every day how she should feed us," says the 80-year-old.
Nevertheless, Liebgard made it to a girls' high school.
She also completed a degree in electrical engineering in Munich.
“I was the only woman in the entire semester,” she recalls.
"You have to be better than men."
She worked for Siemens as an electrical engineer for several years - until she married in 1964 and had three children.
“Family is very important to me,” says Brenner.
“That is the smallest unit, it has to work.” But the jubilee did not only look after her own children all her life, she also brought her energy and care for children in Russia.
Aid organization for Chernogolovka
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, many municipalities in Germany sent donations for Russia and Poland.
“The political and church community in Neubiberg decided at that time not to donate to an organization, but directly to a city,” says Brenner.
By chance, a Russian professor was visiting the Bundeswehr University at the time, and he made contact with his hometown of Chernogolovka.
"I was there on every delegation trip from the start," says the 80-year-old.
The mayor at the time, Josef Schneider and Liebgard Brenner, paid for everything - the flights, the hotel - out of their own pockets, she recalls.
During one stay, locals approached the Neubiberger, saying that a child needed money for medication.
When he was one and a half years old, the boy's face and fingertips were burned away.
“Presumably a laser charge missed its target,” speculates Brenner.
“The boy no longer had an upper lip, he could neither drink nor eat.” At that time, she gave the last of her travel money to Daniil's family, says the woman from Neubiberg.
Brenner organized an operation for a badly burned boy.
But the little Russian never got out of her head afterwards.
She telephoned doctors in Munich for hours and described the situation.
A specialist for severely burned patients in the Bogenhausen Hospital agreed to operate on Daniil's face.
“I had to negotiate a daily rate with the clinic's head of administration,” says Brenner.
The expensive operation could be financed with money from friends and acquaintances.
"When people know what they are donating for, they are generous."
Liebgard Brenner has since retired from work in Russia.
After 16 years and 14 trips, she drew a line in 2006.
“I brought all of my protégés together one last time and said goodbye.” The bond between her friends in the East and she has remained strong nonetheless.
When her husband died in 2009, they visited two women from Russia for three days.
"You said at the time: 'We celebrated together, now we are mourning together too,'" Brenner recalls.
"I don't just want to live for myself, I also want to be there for others."
Not only saying goodbye to her husband Dieter was a serious turning point in her life.
In 1995 she developed breast cancer herself, which she defeated successfully.
She then formed a group of women who shared the same fate.
Evenings together should give the women other ideas.
“I don't just want to live for myself, but also to be there for others”, this motto runs through the entire life of the Neubibergerin.
Today she celebrates her birthday with family and friends.
She has no wishes.
"I'm just grateful that I'm still doing so well."
Fungus: death sentence for chestnut in Unterhaching.
