Hermann Dörnemann

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Hermann Dörnemann (May 27, 1893 – March 2, 2005) of Germany was hailed in the press as the oldest living man in the world upon the death of American Fred H. Hale, Sr. on November 19, 2004. However, not until Hale's death did Dörnemann's family offer documentation to the Guinness Book of World Records or to a supercentenarian researcher, and at that point the claim of Emiliano Mercado del Toro was put forward too with documentation that he was born in 1891, almost two years earlier, which was subsequently accepted as well.

In any case, Dörnemann was recognized by the German government as Germany's oldest person (following the passing of Lina Zimmer on August 28, 2004). He was also very likely the oldest living World War I veteran who fought for the Central Powers.

Dörnemann credited his longevity to drinking "a beer a day".

[edit] See also

• Veterans of the First World War who died in 2005