| Walter Straub | |
 | |
| Height: | 7 ft 9 in (236.2cm) |
| Birth: | 21 July 1925 Dunningen, Germany |
| Death: | 20 February 1986 Germany |
| Verified | |
Walter Straub Gulliver (21 July 1925 - 20 February 1986) was a German man who, at 236cm, was the tallest German to ever live and the tallest German during his life. He was also sometimes named as ''Der Lange Dunninger''. He weighed 276 lb (125 kg) at the time of his death.
Early life[]
Straub was born as the son of Anton Straub and Emma née Graf at Schrambergerstrale 15. He attended elementary school until he was 12 years old at 1937.
He was of normal height, but then he started to grow a lot and by the time he was 15, he was already 180cm (5'10'')! In his last school year, he needed shoe size 48 and then later needed size 52 shoes. For meals, he always needed to eat the amount that 2 people would otherwise eat. At this time, he needed about 5 meters (16'4.8'') of fabric for a suit.
He had three brothers of completely normal size: Eugen, Erwin, and Hertha Straub.
World War II[]
After reaching the age of 22, his height was starting to slow down, but Straub still grew a few centimeters until he had became 2.32 meters (7'7'.3''), making him the tallest German at the time. His extraordinary growth was from. you guessed it, a malfunction in the pituitary gland causing excessive amounts of growth hormone.
During an air raid in the Second World War, Walter and his parent's house were hit and mostly destroyed. While Straub's mother died, Walter was shaken for about 150 minutes and had to spend 3 weeks in the hospital with a spinal column injury.
Later life[]
At this time, Straub had to wear size 58 shoes that costed at about 900 Deutschmarks (about 520 dollars), and needed between 5 and 6.5 meters of fabric for a suit. It costed over 1000 Deutschmarks (about 580 dollars). His state of health was not particularly bad, supporting the fact that he did not do any physical work in agriculture or a factory.
That's why he followed the requests of circuses, variety shows and department stores to earn his living as an advertising man, because wherever the giant performed, he caused a stir. For a long time he traveled through Germany with the Horsch circus, and also with the "Martin Circus" in Switzerland. He also worked as an advertising man at various department stores and at the Variete Wolf in Zurich. He also had to give up this job for health reasons.
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