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From Verena Belzer
Radeberg. The other day, Helga Jäschke had to cancel the appointment for an interview on the occasion of her 80th birthday at short notice. "We'll have to postpone it," she said on the phone, curt as always. "I have to stand in for someone and finish 30 roulades today."
And when work calls, Helga Jäschke is there. She has never shied away from work. Not even at the age of 80. After all, what else could she do? To put it in her own words: "What should I do at home? Chatting with the flower pots or what?" She doesn't waste a thought on vacations either: "I still have household days left over from the GDR."
A true original
Helga Jäschke is a true original, in the best sense of the word. She has been running the "Heideschänke" in Heidestraße in Radeberg - a sports restaurant with a terrace in front of a soccer pitch where nobody plays anymore. But the 80-year-old couldn't care less.
She cooks for her regular customers seven days a week - coffee in the morning, almost exclusively meat dishes at lunchtime and small meals in the evening. Her clientele is a colorful mix. Many are pensioners, but business people and construction workers also enjoy her home cooking.
Marion Doering
Some of her regular customers were now present at the milestone birthday - as well as relatives from Kamenz, Hanover and Hamburg. And on this day, for once, Helga Jäschke wasn't working, tapping beer or pounding schnitzel. And for once she wasn't wearing her apron - which is actually her trademark. "The last guests left at 2.30 a.m. and I was home at 3.30 a.m.," she says. Little sleep - that's nothing unusual for the 80-year-old. She only sleeps between three and four hours at night. "That's enough for me."
From the winery to gastronomy
Helga Jäschke never actually wanted to work in gastronomy - the Radeberg native is a trained sweet cider maker. But when the wine press house where she was employed closed down soon after reunification, she had to think of something else. Being unemployed was out of the question for her.
The path into gastronomy was more of a coincidence. She had rented a storage room in the already closed winery to accept fruit from private customers and take it to another winery. And it happened regularly that people would ask her if she had anything for lunch.
"They wanted a bockwurst or a bratwurst," says Helga Jäschke. And that's how it always developed. More spontaneously than planned. When it was no longer possible to continue there at some point because the building was dilapidated, she moved to the Heideschänke - by then she was already over 70 years old.
"Anyone who misbehaves gets the boot"
What will happen next? "I hope that things will go on like this for a while," says Helga Jäschke. On the whole, she is healthy and fit. "Pain comes and pain goes. You don't have to drive yourself crazy." Cutting back - that's certainly not an option.
"That's not possible at all," she says. "The calendar is full. Family celebrations, milestone birthdays, youth consecrations, school openings, Christmas parties - the Heideschänke is fully booked all year round.
And her regular customers remain loyal to her. A friendship has developed with many guests, and the 1.49-metre-tall 80-year-old is popular and respected by everyone. "And if someone misbehaves, they're kicked out," she says firmly. "Everyone should feel comfortable with me."
Helga Jäschke can only smile about her height. "Not fit for the army," she says. But her 1.49 meters are more than enough to successfully run her own pub.
Helga Jäschke's only vegetarian dish is the side salad
So everything continues as normal. The guests are already starting to ask when there will finally be stains again, as they are particularly popular. "My dishes are hearty and hearty," says Helga Jäschke. And plentiful. Only the side salad is vegetarian. "My guests just want meat."
She shops once or twice a week at the wholesale market and the slaughterhouse in Dresden. The 80-year-old no longer drives. "I should still, but I don't want to anymore," she says. "That way I can think better about what I need while I'm driving."
She has an employee who helps her out from time to time - otherwise her daughter and granddaughter sometimes help out. Do they want to take over the Heideschänke one day? "I don't know," says Helga Jäschke. "For now, I'll carry on."
